The wedding date
by Little-Firestar84
Summary: The last Lisbon brother is getting married and Teresa finds herself posing as the single bridesmaid again. Who better than Jane to save her from blind dates arranged by the family and feeling like the third wheel? JISBON dedicated to PetitJ the encourager
1. The Proposal

**A/n: **This story has been resident into my mind for quite a while in some kind of larval state, to be more accurate, since last october, but I never got to write it down, too busy with other things- other fics, my driver license, work, family, friends and so on. Untill... Untill, this week, I was talking with my one of my best friends on the net, PetitJ, and told her about a couples of lines I was thinking about a possible fiction, and she told me to go on because she liked the idea. I decided to listen to her, and today I put down a couple of chapters. So, I cna tell you I know where I'll go with this one, but I don't know how long it will take me nor if I'll be able to keep regularly the updates...

Another thing I wanted to make you notices is that, even contrary to what I was thinking when I started conceping this story into my mind, this creature is now inpsired by the books "3 times the bridesmaid" by Nicola marsh, and "Asking for trouble" by Elizabeth Young and the 2005 movie - that I loved!- "The wedding date"... AND there will be small references to episodes, especially if they had a Jisbon moment inside, but no spoiler, I promise!

Oh, yes, the damn disclaimer: seriosuly, do we really have to do it? Because, Jeez, if I'd own them, I'd not be here writing it, I'd be the writeer of a TV Shows and, well, we'd have the LIsbon romance for real...meanwhile, I just **_"write, draw, create, dream, hope and believe in Bruno, waiting for him to be blessed bu the light of reason..." _**(No, this discalimer isn't mine, it belongs to one fo the girls who wite Mentalist fiction on the italian site efpfiction, but don't tell me many of you don't share this vision...). Also, I don't own none of the aforementioned titles.

* * *

THE PROPOSAL

Sitting on her brand new white couch in her office, courtesy of none other than Patrick Jane, Teresa Lisbon reflects, sighing, on the piece of paper she is rolling between her fingers. It's just a piece of paper, even a small one, but in her hands, it weights like it was made of steel, and Teresa Lisbon knows too well why. It weights that much because it's yet again an invitation to another wedding, a wedding of her last unmarried brother, a wedding where she'll be yet again maid of honor (for the third time), a wedding she'll have to attend yet again alone, where yet again she'll see someone younger than her getting married before she could. Tommy is getting married to his long-tome girlfriend, the one she introduced him to years prior, Claire, and she is well aware that, like James and Linda and Marcus and Carol they are all worried for her because she isn't getting any younger. She knows that it's not exactly out of pity that every time she is in Chicago they try to set her up on blind dates, but because they care, but, still, she is sick and tired of this, she is sick and tired of them playing cupid. She knows that, if she'll not bring someone along with her at the wedding, they'll try to put some "hot, charming, single and uptown guy" as the best man, hoping that they'll end up falling head over heels for each other – it doesn't matter that half the times they are smaller than her, stupid, jerks and liars and a couple of them had even a family back home. All she needs is someone smart, funny, handsome and who looks good, even better, great, in fancy clothes in order to make them stop, and she is pretty sure there's a good chance that she'll never hear the end if it, but, still, if she plays her cad well, she could trick him for once, besides, he owns her, since, yet again, she bailed him out of jail risking her own career and gaining a really nice outburst form Hightower.

"Uh, I see you're finally putting at good use your brand new couch, gift of your precious and infallible genius of a consultant that I am." Like he has read her mind, Patrick Jane, pain of her existence but still one of the most handsome men she ever met, enters in her office, and goes to sit at her side, smiling his usual mega-watt smile and offering her a cup of her favorite coffee, while drinking himself his usual cup of tea as he loves it. For an instant, Lisbon would like to make some smart-ass reply, because the man is really full of himself, but, deep down, she knows he is right. Even if, before him, they closed cases, they didn't do it at this rate, besides, she has always had a soft spot for him, and she'd never be able to deny the man anything. AND, let's not forget, she needs a favor, and even a big one. "So, Lisbon, let's hear, why does that tiny little piece of paper trouble you so much?" Trust Jane to arrive right at the point without beat around the bush, and to know what's wrong, especially if it concerns her. Maybe, just maybe, he'll help her, Teresa thinks between herself, because he seems to have a soft spot for her as well: after all, he is the one who likes to ask for her to trust him (even if he doesn't, or maybe it's not because he doesn't trust her that he always refuse to share things with her, but she'd rather prefer avoiding thinking about this, because the repercussions of something that big would be, well, big.).

"Jane, just the man I was looking for" she tells him, smiling a bit, but blushing at the same time, embarrassed, already playing into her mind different scenarios, ways to play this thing and ways to avoid everything, from the wedding to having to ask Jane to go with her as a fake boyfriend.

"Meh, I knew that you'd eventually surrounded to my ways. Let's hear, Lisbon, what do you need me to do? Do I have to blackmail someone? Cold read someone you think murdered someone? You want to me to arrange the perfect murder? Or do I have to break in inside a house?" He stops to savor his tea to lean in her direction, grinning like the cat that got the canary, like he was foretasting the victory he knew he, eventually, was going to get. Under his scrutiny and his gaze, those wonderful blue eyes she can't stop thinking about, Lisbon shivers, and for a while she battles with herself, scared of what the outcome of what seemed a brilliant idea may be.

"Actually, Jane, I'd need you to be my boyfriend" she answers him, closed eyes to avoid contact with him and biting her lips, talking without breathing, like breathing could gave her time to change her mind. He gets closer and closer, even if he'd like to jump in surprise form the couch, and looks with eyes wide open at Lisbon, understanding that she is sincere. He'd like to… he doesn't really know. He just knows that his hear misses a beat, because he has never though she was going to ask him, and being so forward about the whole thing, even. Obviously, there was an extremely tiny part of him, that he'd deny even could exist, that _hoped _that she'd eventually come around and admit her own feeling for him and decided to ask him out, but…but, he has to admit, he had almost lost all hope. After all, the only time she had showed some kind of interest in him had been more than two years prior, at that high school reunion, when they were dancing on the notes of "_more than words_"; a honest and bright smile appears on his features as he savors the memory of Lisbon in his arms, pressed against him, of her perfume, of her soft skin against his one, of her silk dark hair against his chin… and _the kiss. _ A kiss that hadn't been exactly a kiss, because, when they were only millimeters apart, and his hands were already in her hair forcing her closer and closer, Rigsby appeared, breaking the moment, a moment that they never repeated and never talked about without even having to agree on it, something he still regrets.

"You… you want to go out with me? My, Lisbon, thanks, I'm honored!" he asks, full of hope, but still hiding it behind his usual smile and grin.

"What? No! I don't want go out with you! I just need to go to a certain place with you!" she tries to explain, blushing dark red and almost in panic, clearly uneasy, not daring to face the man even if she knows that Jane is trying to find her eyes "it's just that… Tommy is getting married, and I've been invited to the wedding and a couple of other things, and… he is…was the last single between my brothers, and… I can't go to yet another wedding alone, also because they'd try to set me up with some loser, and so… I'd really need someone who'd like to…pose as a fake boyfriend." She ends the sentence in a whisper, looking at her feet, on fire.

"Lisbon, I'm flattered that you asked me instead of, let's say, our old friend Walt" he tells her, almost physically touching her with his shoulder, still grinning for both what she asked and because she asked him and because he always liked bring in old flames to annoy the hell out of her. "Now, let's hear, why did you think of me, my dear?"

She takes back a bit of dignity, and looks at Jane, rolling her own eyes annoyed, trying to maintain some composure, and hoping to avoid letting him know the real reason she asked him to pose as her fake boyfriend. "Listen Jane; don't picture weird things in that crazy head of yours, ok? The only reason I asked you to come is because I needed someone to come with me, and I don't see why I should waste precious time trying to find someone. Besides, we both know that normally men are quite scared of me because even if I'm short I'm more bully than them, and… let's face the truth, Jane, no one is immune to your charm, it affects a bit even me."_Crap. I so just didn't say that aloud…. _"It would be for just a couple of weeks and maybe a couple of days while Tommy and Claire will be in their honeymoon since they are going to stay in Santa Barbara…"

"Uh, I think I could agree with your little dirty game, but, tell me Lisbon dear, what did I gain in exchange for my astonishing performance?"

"C'mon, Jane, I bailed you out of prison just two days ago, AND I always save your sorry ass! It's always behind me that you hide when there's a punch waiting for happen and…"

"Meh, in exchange of your protection, I close cases. You say so yourself. I think, my dear "he says with a little of malice in his eyes "that I'll need further incentive"

"Ok, then…" she says at closed eyes, gulping, trying to not hide her amusement for what she is going to do "For the duration of the play, I'll get along with your ant… your plans without any interference, BUT as soon as it's over, we come back to Lisbon and Jane and we behave as always, got it?" she says, pointing a finger at him to underline better the meaning of her words. He grins, victorious.

"Like I said, woman, I knew you'd eventually come along!"

"Are you saying you agree, Jane?"

"Lisbon, dear, you have my solemn word!"

"Well, in that case… the play will start officially in three weeks time, when we'll have to be in Chicago to attend the engagement party. We'll have to both take a couple of weeks off, but don't worry; no one will say or suspect anything out of the ordinary. Now that I think about it, I should be the one asking for your vacation…. It's not like there's someone else here that can stand your "plans", not even Cho. They usually tell you to stay at home when I'm not around to damage-control you." She smirks, victorious, looking at Jane who has just understood what happened and she had tricked him. "Good! Don't worry, I'll think about the plane tickets, I'll buy them, it's the least I can do for you in order to repays such a favor!" _Actually, Tommy is buying them, but, still…_ "Oh, and we'll revise on the plane, ok? After all, we just need the few things, I'm almost an expert on all things Jane and you know everything there is to know about me, so…. ok!"

"I'd stay a bit more with you small talking, but I still have a lot of work to do, and I'm pretty sure there's nothing you want to do more that napping on our couch!"Smiling a mega watt smile and kissing him on the cheeks, Lisbon runs out of the office, almost giggling and dancing, knowing too well that she is a little bit pathetic. What she leaves behind is a speechless and astonished and petrified Patrick Jane, something she has never seen before.


	2. The Flight

**A/n: **Oh, yes, the damn disclaimer: seriosuly, do we really have to do it? Because, Jeez, if I'd own them, I'd not be here writing it, I'd be the writeer of a TV Shows and, well, we'd have the LIsbon romance for real...meanwhile, I just **_"write, draw, create, dream, hope and believe in Bruno, waiting for him to be blessed bu the light of reason..." _**(No, this discalimer isn't mine, it belongs to one fo the girls who wite Mentalist fiction on the italian site efpfiction, but don't tell me many of you don't share this vision...). Also, I don't own none of the aforementioned titles that inspired this thing- the movie "the wedding date", or the books "Asking for trouble" and "3 times the bridesmaid"... For PetitJ, my "muse", you rock, girl!

* * *

He didn't have time to ask Lisbon anything at the airport, because she had asked him to drive there separately and she was still "busy with last hour details and arrangements" (meaning she had to ask her neighbor to look after her recently adopted dog and to home and the plants and so on). Knowing Lisbon, though, he thought that, once he was at the airport, she'd be already there waiting for him annoyed and at crossed arms.

Well, he couldn't be more wrong. It comes out that off duty Lisbon is extremely different from on duty Lisbon, and not only when her timing is concerning. Definitely, when he sees her approaching him when they are already calling for their flight for Chicago, it's not only about that he is talking about. Not that he can actually talk about something. He is, yet again, speechless, and yet again it has been Lisbon to make such a miracle, or maybe the angelic creature that took her place, or the tempting devil who took her place.

"Wow" he just says as he sees her, keeping blinking astonished by such an unusual appearance. Here she is, Senior Agent Teresa Lisbon, standing in front of him with an extremely elegant silk shirt in a wonderful tone of dark green, black dress pants ornate by buttons looking like jewels on the hem with an extremely fashionable short jacket made in the same way and middle heels shoes; she isn't wearing that much make up, just enough to make her more beautiful than what she already is, just her cross and her hair is curled naturally, something he is crazy about but never dared to talk about in the first place, if not drunken once or twice with Cho. What's astonishing, though, is how Lisbon is comfortable with these clothes and this persona, elegant and sexy and feminine and charming, like the cop was the cover and this exquisite creature the reality, a reality he'd like to see more.

"Well, thanks, I guess. I'd tell that you scrubbed well, but you are the same old Jane" she says, even if his three pieces, dark, is definitely new and more elegant than usual, and he is showing off a nice tie in dark green. "So I guess I'll keep my mouth shout" she answers him smiling, sure of herself, showing off her brand new glossy hair like the devil tempting he knew she could be and she is proving she is. "Let's go, then!" she tells him, smiling, taking Jane for a hand and guiding him towards their "goal", hurrying towards the gate, hand in hand, smiling.

TM – TM – TM- TM

When they are finally sitting on the plane, first class gentle gift of the future groom who can't bear the thought of getting married without his older sister/surrogate parent, close to each other, from her not so small briefcase Lisbon, all proud of herself and almost giggling, produces to an always more astonished Patrick Jane a not so little black book, leaving it on his knees. "As we agreed, we have to revise, and before you could say something" she hushes him with a finger right before his eyes " I know you are great at improvising and in cold reading people, but I'd rather prefer if you actually _know _my family, or at least something about them" As he sees the pout on her face, he knows he has lost and is gone, because, really, he has never been able to resist helping Lisbon out of her own troubles, but when she acts like that… when she acts like that, it's even hard resist to his male urges, or to avoid playing that same scene that took place in that school, during that high school reunion –or, to be more accurate, ending it. He doesn't know if the rest of the team knows what happened that night, but Rigsby is, at least, well aware of the reason they'd been weird around each other for few days and why Jane had suddenly decided to pull one after another on the former arson specialist. More than once, after Hardy's departure, Jane had been that close to take Lisbon somewhere private to confess her his own feelings, but never had been the right moment. That night, it had been perfect, and even back then he knew that, had not been for Rigsby's intromission, the night would have been a way different for the both of them.

"I think you may be right here. Reading my in-laws to be seems rather inappropriate, even for me." He tells her, grinning with bright smile, and the only thing Lisbon does is hitting him playfully with the napkin that goes along the wonderful lunch they taste right now.

"Oh, hush you, Jane! You're incorrigible!" even as she tries to be mad at him, she realizes she can't, and for many reason. She can't be mad at Jane because he is helping her out, because she is sick and tired of being the third wheel and he'll definitely silence them with his charm and personality and sexiness, but mostly because… because he is JANE, and she has never been able to say mad at him for too long, and not only because, as she once told him, he closes cases. No, even back then, there were many reasons she liked having him around, she still does, reasons that the night of the ball almost left her mouth, or the day in the crate… all reasons she feels but he doesn't, so better left things unsaid between the two of them. "Anyway, back to business, here, in the first picture, you can see my brother Marcus, 31, and his wife of six years, Carol. Marcus is a pilot, while his wife is an air-stewardess for the same company, it's how they met. The boy in the picture with them is Richard, their adopted son of eleven years old." He rolls his eyes and lifts his eyebrows at the same time, but she skips few pages, showing him what he needs, smiling "Oh, don't worry, see? I'm organized! Now we work on this, then you'll have the whole flight to study all stuffs Lisbon Family." she pauses, turning to another picture, not leaving him time to question her."And here we have Lieutenant James Lisbon, 30 years old from the Marine Corps, Pensacola base, with his wife, Linda, high school British Literature teacher. And, last but not least, here we have…"

"NO WAY!" he giggles, almost screaming, pointing to a young man into a picture. "Don't tell me this is really your last brother! This one! Tommy Lisbon, White Sox Superstar, is your brother! When the hell did it happen?"

"You can bet on it, Jane! Thomas "Tommy" Lisbon, 29, soon to be married to journalist Claire Fouling, my high school best friend and sport journalist, is my little brother, and I can tell you, without any modesty, that everything they guy knows, he learned it from me!" She looks at him, intrigued, amused even, biting her lips a bit with that expression that drives him crazy and is screaming at him to take her there and then. "You know, Jane, I thought I was translucent and that there was no need for me to give you details about my existence… aren't you supposed to know everything there is to know about me because of my translucency?"

"Apparently, woman, you're more obscure then I thought… but getting to know everything there is to know about you" he says, grinning and pointing at her "it's something I'm definitely looking forward to, my dear!"

"Don't dear me, Jane, or I tell you… you'll have to suffer bodily harm!"she adverts him still smiling.

"What do you prefer, then… sweetheart, woman, angel, honey, love, flower, petal? Oh, no, wait, I get it…" he gets closer and closer, laughing, remembering yet another time they had "together", almost whispering the word on her lips, already foretasting the color her face will turn into. "What do you say about Babe?" she hits him again, while Jane collapses into laugher, remembering the term of endangerment he once used and she hated with a passion.

"JANE!" She screams, red and shy and mad, but the demented idiot, as she has privately nicknamed Jane, still laughs.

"Teresa, Teresa, Teresa… do you seriously think people will believe that we are a couple madly in love if you keep calling me with my surname?"

"Whatever you say, _Patrick" _She takes a big breath, not so happy any longer, serious again, or maybe for the first time since their "trip" has started. "Anyway, as you probably understood, it is Tommy the one getting married, and, as I told you, Claire is a dear friend from my time in Chicago, one of the few good memories I have of my teen years. I'm not exactly thrilled about the idea of being a bridesmaid for the third time, but, what I was supposed to do, say no to them, to my friend and my family?"

"Yeah, Claire helped you out during your darkest hour, and your brothers made peace with Tommy just recently, so you couldn't miss the opportunity of seeing them all, together again for the first time after… how long? That time you didn't said how long it was they were fighting each other, just that they were doing it and that life was too short to waste time arguing." He grins as usual, but Lisbon doesn't. Teresa gives him a small smile as he takes her hand in his own, and she blushes at the memory. Yet another time she'd like to tell him how she truly felt, because she thought she was going to die (his plan), and, fortunately, she didn't.

"I don't know, I think it's stupid. It's just that, we all followed somehow in our parents' footsteps… 10 years ago I entered at the CBI, James was already in the Air Force and Marcus a marine… Tommy, they always thought he was going to follow into dad's ones, becoming a firefighter, and when not only he decided to not to, but stayed in Chicago accepting a contract with the Sox instead of doing something really socially helpful… they'd been kind of disappointed, and you can't imagine how many times I told them it was stupid and childish, but did they listen to me?"

"Yeah, well, at least, with someone as handsome and sexy and charming as me at your side, they'll never try to set you with some ugly asinine idiot." He pinches her on the bridge of the nose, and she rolls her eyes, while Jane, hands crossed on his vest, looks at her all calm and ready and relaxed- and, she is quite sure, amused as hell. "So, tell me Teresa dear, what's our cover story? Did we just get together, or have we been together for a while? Did we meet at work or where else? And what am I exactly to you? Am I the love of your life, something you haven't decided yet, a friend with benefits? Do we crazily love each other or are we simply two hormonal grown-up who list after each other and who to each other their hands they can't keep?"

Teresa rolls her eyes, those beautiful emerald eyes, but, still, enjoys this, whatever it is, or maybe it's just his company, she doesn't know. She just knows that, whenever she is with Patrick Jane, she feels like smiling- at east, the majority of the times. "Let's say that I may have… told them _almost _the truth. I told them who you are, more or less, so I'll not have to try improvising. Whatever was in your file and you told me over the years, it's what I told them" she moves her hands in the air, hoping that he'll get that she didn't talk about his tragic past, about his wife and daughter and Red John "And I told them what you do for the CBI as well, more or less. We always had this particular… interaction, let's say, and six months ago, when I started to date Walt, you got scared that you'd lose me to him, so, one evening, while you were driving me back home after closed case drinks, you kissed me. after that, we started dating, and after just a couple of times out on our own we understood we were good for each other, and we've been together ever since."

"And you may have mentioned us being together long before three weeks ago, am I right? I'd say, your brothers and sisters in law got to know of my existence as husband material and not only pain of your existence consultant at least… 3 months ago, when Tommy told you Claire was, what, 4,5 weeks pregnant? I'd say that they were already arranging it, but maybe for next year. But then, then news, and Claire is quite old fashioned, so she wants her baby to be born inside the holy bound of marriage, so they had to hurry up and move it before she actually showed. At that point, you had to find a way out of the mess you knew they were going to get yourself into, and decided to use the sexiest and most charming man you knew, aka me!"

Biting her lips, looking almost sad and sorry, Teresa puts her hand in his lap, over his ones, holding them strongly, not daring to look into his eyes but focused on his hands and his hands only. She knows she hasn't asked him to, she knows he could easily find a way to explain it without telling everything, but, still… she still feel guilty nevertheless. "Jane, I… I should have not asked you to do this, I'm so sorry, I feel like a complete idiot and…"

"C'mon, Teresa, hush now, no need to cry, ok?" he tranquillizes her, enveloping her hand in his own, trying to sound causal. "I had to remove the ring anyway, because of you and Cho I finally decided to go to that gym and I lost a bit of weight and it no longer fitted, besides" he pauses kissing her hand, a finger a time "I don't need to have the ring on my finger to love them, all I need is to have them in my heart, and I do have them there, ok?" they both smile at each other, and Teresa doesn't know what Patrick silently adds, what he'd like to tell her but can't…. _Besides, how could I wear a promise of undying love made to a woman when my heart now belongs to another, to you? _


	3. The Arrival

**A/n: **Oh, yes, the damn disclaimer: seriosuly, do we really have to do it? Because, Jeez, if I'd own them, I'd not be here writing it, I'd be the writeer of a TV Shows and, well, we'd have the LIsbon romance for real...meanwhile, I just **_"write, draw, create, dream, hope and believe in Bruno, waiting for him to be blessed bu the light of reason..." _**(No, this discalimer isn't mine, it belongs to one fo the girls who wite Mentalist fiction on the italian site efpfiction, but don't tell me many of you don't share this vision...). Also, I don't own none of the aforementioned titles that inspired this thing- the movie "the wedding date", or the books "Asking for trouble" and "3 times the bridesmaid"... For PetitJ, my "muse", you rock, girl!

* * *

"I know you probably thought they were going to meet us there at the airport, but, it's just that, even if the wedding is two weeks away…. Claire can be pretty bossy, and when she isn't bossing everyone around, and I mean everyone, she is in freak-out/pre-nuptial nervous breakdown mode, so she needs everyone around looking out for her, and Tommy today was busy with trainings and besides you know how the press can be and…" They are on their way to the old Lisbon's family house, sitting in silence in the back of the taxi; a silence that neither of them is sure is exactly comfortable. She thought it was a good idea. Jane thought it was going to be fun. Neither of them is quite sure of this any longer, and all it took them to start regret their deal was the flight… and, on Lisbon's side, the (lack of) his wedding ring. As soon as she had lingered on his bare finger, she had thought he'd feel guilty, because… well, thinking about Jane as a separate entity from his ring was kind of scary, still is, actually, because a ring-less Jane means a moving on Jane, whom scares her most than a hell bended on revenge Jane. Like the after math could be different. Lisbon is too well aware that, in both cases, she'll end up heartbroken. She'll end up heartbroken if he'll fall in love with someone else, even if she knows that she should be happy about him starting to live again, she'll end up heartbroken if his desire for revenge will bring him to jail or to his own funeral. If she has to be completely honest, things like are right now are quite good for her, quite perfect even. They innocently flirt; they are turning into something that's more than coworkers and friends but less than something else… and he sleeps on "their" couch more and more every day that it passes, silently and slowly letting it go of that dusty, lonely and unhealthy attic.

Jane just stares in silence, like his mind was somewhere else, at all the passing things (landscapes, buildings, roads, people, cars…) barely nodding to her words. Lisbon is doing the same, looking at the outside world while talking with him, clearly uneasy, like only right now the enormity of it was striking home. She is bringing Patrick Jane home. She is going to lie to her own family about something that big. She is going to pretend she is having a great career at the CBI and that her boss just adores her and that, on top of it, she has finally found the one, the love of her life, her soul mate, her everything…. it's just ironical that Jane could be all this things, that she thinks he is the one, her one. But she is well aware as well that, like all good tragedies, and she knows her life is a pretty good one, she can't be, will not be, his one. Like he so wisely told her just hours before, his heart belongs to another one, another one she'll never be able to stand a candle to.

"Listen, Patrick, I know you probably don't like it, but I was thinking that, since we will need people to believe that we are a couple, we should…" she starts, looking at her crossed hands in her lap, quite not sure how to go at it.

"If you mean holding hands, hugging and having physical contact, I don't have any problem at all, Teresa. I've been there and done that, after all, or do you forget all the times we pretended to be a couple for undercover operations?" He asks her, grinning, but never looking at her. And even this way, Patrick Jane is sure as hell of one thing: Teresa Lisbon is probably blushing like a school girl at the thought of the times they had to pose as a married couple- hence her hate for the way he likes too much addressing her as "babe".

"We did it just a couple of times…" she complains, at low voice, hoping that the drier will not catch up on their conversation starting thinking weird things out of this. Jane just keeps grinning at this, and can't resist any longer. He decides to play his "last card" to see if she'll do him body harm. If she'll not, maybe, just maybe, the Mentalist thinks, there will be hope for them. It all depends on how she'll react to this one… and to what he'll do soon enough to her.

He is quite proud of himself as he sees her terrified expression at his "I'm already foretasting my incoming victory" kind of grin. "I think we should kiss each other" he (fake) causally tells her, scrolling his shoulders, knowing that she knows that there's nothing casual about his statement.

"NO!" She screams, so aloud that the driver is almost stopping to see what the problem may be and if something is wrong with her.

"Lisbon, Lisbon, Lisbon, kissing will make it much more veritable, and you don't want your family to find out that we are not really a couple who's crazy about each other, right?"

Blushing, she whispers something he isn't able to hear, and looking, quite amused, at the blonde devil in front of her, Lisbon hushes him with a finger on his lips, smiling, looking at him with dilated pupils and with a grin. Her next words are spoken at low, and with a sensual and malicious tone, almost on his skin so closer she has moved to him in the small taxi. "I think we should make it as we go, don't you think, _Patrick_?" It's not the first time she has called him by his given name, not at all and not today, but the way she tells him now, it makes him close his eyes, moaning a bit while he quickly kisses her finger, wanting to do something much more voluptuous and sinful to it (and to any other part of her body). When she puts he palms on his chest, putting them under his jacket, it's all much more difficult to stand and to resist, and he is quite sure that, if Teresa's actions are telling him something, it's that he'll not have to resist much longer because she wants him just as much as he wants her. "First things first, Patrick" she says his name again, in the same tone, but this time is much more erotic and sensual because she is whispering it into his ear, and he is quite sure she is going to bite or suck or lick his lobe and, really, does he really think he'll be able to restrain himself after that seductive torture just because they are in a public place? "You're not going to wear this tie today, Patrick" she tells him, laughing into his ear, letting then her head fall on his shoulder, still out of laughs.

"Teresa, dear, if you wanted to see me cloth less, you should have asked me on the plane. I'm quite sure neither of us has anything against joining the mile high club." He answers grinning, but laughing into her hair, and even if she is well aware that this extremely sexual comment would deserve a painful answer, she can't do it. She simply joins him in his laugh, and when she hits him it's just a small punch, more like a pinch, on his arm.

"Not like that, you idiot. It's just that it seems that a tailor took a piece of my shirt and made your tie." She explains, still amused, indicating her blouse and then his tie, that are clearly made in the same kind of fabric and in the same nuance as well (something he has done on purpose, because it was the exact nuance of her eyes when she is happy; when he saw it, he didn't resist, he simply had to own something that could compliment her eyes when they were together.) "Don't get me wrong, matching's fine, it's matchy-matchy you want to look out for." She explains, still smiling amused but now, a bit, back in control, sweating, unsure, and not daring to look into his eyes. Another thing she doesn't dare to do is thinking _why _he chose that tie in particular. She knows she chose the emerald blouse because it reflects perfectly the nuance of her eyes, but why has he done it? Was he thinking about her while doing it? Did he do it only because he liked the tie? She'd rather prefer avoiding thinking about it, because, again, she has to admit she likes too much the status quo, and Jane… again she stops to think that she likes, even loves, things like they are now, because, otherwise, Jane liking her… or maybe even loving her… it's a scary thought, scary because she knows what the consequences will be. She knows what the outcome will be, and she isn't ready to face them yet, nor ever, maybe.

"You don't want for us to look like we're trying too hard." He explains, almost bored, again casually, again looking out like he isn't really interested in the conversation.

"Exactly!" she claps her hands, and, for once, probably a milestone in their "relationship", it's Jane the one who feels like rolling his eyes. "We have to look like we fit but not like we're trying to look like we fit!"

"Teresa, Teresa, Teresa… let me teach you a trick. If you look people in the eyes, they'll never notice what you are wearing"

"Yeah, well, as someone once said, I make a really terrible liar, especially if I look people in the eyes, so, sorry man, there's no way we're gonna showing up in his and her outfits" Saying so, she carefully pulls the tie into one of his pockets, patting it carefully, her silent way of telling him both that the tie is supposed to stay there and there's no way she is going to allow him to wear it, and that she, again, won. Jane doesn't even bother to rolls his eyes or adds a single word, preferring to remain in silence for the rest of the trip. Instead, as soon as he is out of her line of sight, he grins, amused. Yet again Lisbon has put one on him, and yet again he hasn't seen hat one coming. It's a clear sign that she has finally learned from the master, and that, if she'd like, she could actually look into her family's eyes and lie about their status.

According to what Teresa told him, and not just during the flight, the nice but normal house they find themselves in front of is, even if the Lisbon's house, not the same house where she has been raised until the age of 16. That place, she once confessed him in a rather unusual moment of weakness on her side, got destroyed because of an explosion, the same one where her father lost his life, the same one from which she, and her brothers, merely escaped. He is well aware that the place where she so much suffered is far away from here, probably at the opposite side of the city, but, still, he understands why Lisbon is always so reluctant when her family invites her over, even if this place has as many happy memories as she could get after what happened to her.

From her words, and from her file, he understands that the house (an extremely nice place for quite a big family, with even a not so small playhouse in wood in a corner of the garden) belonged to Katherine Lisbon, her father's older sister, colleague and friend to her mother. After her mother's death, Kat become a sort of surrogate mother to them, and to her in particular, who was doing her best to raise 3 children, and, after her father wasted his life, she become their guardian for few years, welcoming them into her place, a place that, after she passed a couple of years prior (he had found Lisbon crying into her office that night, and she had allowed him to held her, asking later for his pardon and assuring him that it wasn't going to happen ever again, even if it did, when Carmen framed her) has been left to the 4 siblings.

"No last minute speech before I go and charm my ways into your family's hearts?" he asks her, amused, adjusting the 3 pieces minus the tie, looking at Teresa with an expression that, were they dating for real, would mean something in the line of "I'm going to take you soon".

"Tell me, Mr. Jane, are you never tired of being so bold and full of yourself?" She asks him, smiling, hitting him playfully on the chest like she has done since they have left Sacramento. She has to admit, a (small) part of her is starting to get scared of this, of how they are perfectly used to each other, like… like it was true. She doesn't know exactly the reason, but she feels like the broken heart is already on its way…


	4. The Welcome Party

**A/n: **Oh, yes, the damn disclaimer: seriosuly, do we really have to do it? Because, Jeez, if I'd own them, I'd not be here writing it, I'd be the writeer of a TV Shows and, well, we'd have the LIsbon romance for real...meanwhile, I just **_"write, draw, create, dream, hope and believe in Bruno, waiting for him to be blessed bu the light of reason..." _**(No, this discalimer isn't mine, it belongs to one fo the girls who wite Mentalist fiction on the italian site efpfiction, but don't tell me many of you don't share this vision...). Also, I don't own none of the aforementioned titles that inspired this thing- the movie "the wedding date", or the books "Asking for trouble" and "3 times the bridesmaid"... For PetitJ, my "muse", you rock, girl, and I hope you'll like it, even if it is tunring more "mature" (bot not M, relax people) than what I usaully do.

A/N: not considering eventual connection/pc issues, I should ahbe enough chapters untill the end of the work week; at that time, I should be more or less halfway with the whole thing, even if, eventually, I'll move things a little forward in time (just few days, though). I'm not sure when that part will be due, though, because, I'm telling you, I have to re-watch the movie "the wedding date" and re-read both books, because there are many things I'm going to use here or at least take inspiration from, and it's been a while since I've last seen the movie or read the pages of those books, so, in case you'll have to wait untill next week for the chapters from 8 till the last, well the epilogue that I don't know yet what cahpter will be, I just ask you to be patient, because, eventually, you'll have everything. and, yes, I'll do my best to give it to you very, very soon...

A/N: thanks a lot to all the people who reviewed, in case I didn't come to you personally with a PM, and to all the people who alrted and favorited me, you all rocks!

* * *

He smiles a little, but a smile of the sad kind, and, adjusting a lock of dark hair behind her right ear, he gets closer and closer to her, his arms around her waist while she keeps her hands on his chest for balance, breathless and eyes wide open "Listen, I know how important this is for you, but remember: you are a beautiful, smart and successful woman and you've got everything in the world going for you. You have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. Whoever you are, whatever you do, they'd be crazy to not love you with all their hearts" he tells her, sincere, holding her, looking into her eyes, her teary eyes. She'd like to cry all her tears, and she'd like to kiss him senseless, to do what she knew she should have done that night two years prior at that high school reunion, but she knows she can't. Jane told her, is telling her, that her family is supposed to love her, he isn't telling her that he is the one _in love _with her. "Just relax and you'll see that everything will end well, ok? Trust me on this, sweetheart."

"I told you to not nickname me, Patrick" she tells him, patting his chest, amused "Besides, you should know that the only thing I trust you with is leaving problems whenever you go. Problems that, let me tell you, I'm usually the one who's supposed to solve them."

"Ouch! Woman, you wound me! Are you telling me that another trust fall is in order?" he mocks hurt, and, keeping her in his arms, he places small kisses on her hair and her forehead, and Teresa is closing her eyes, leaning closer to him with her lips, because with Jane behaving this way she isn't really able to think straight, but, suddenly…

"Tess!" a young redhead woman, the one he recognizes as Carol, screams at the top of her voice, jumping on them both hugging them both at the same time with tears of happiness, something that surprises Teresa a little, since it's not her sister in law's usual behavior. "Oh, honey, look at yourself, you're just great and you…" the woman parts way with them, and sends an appreciative glance at Jane, looking at him like he was a piece of meat on exhibition and she a lion waiting for dinner. "And you must be her new guy…"

Teresa rolls her eyes as, with the door now wide open, Linda approaches as well, looking as a shy girl waiting to be introduced to the hot quarterback. If she has to be honest, the main reason she is rolling her eyes it's how Carol made her statement sound, like she was some kind of easy girl that passes her time jumping from bed to bed and from man to man. The new guy… like she had so many guys into her life!

"Hello, madams, I'm…"

"Tessie!" Yet another woman leaves the door, hurrying, and embraces Teresa. Jane can clearly sees how uneasy Lisbon is with this whole hugging thing, but he can also sees that, with this one, she is more at easy, probably because of the age as well. From what he saw and red and has been told, Claire is older than her boyfriend, as old as Teresa, a former high-schoolmate of his "girlfriend", and Teresa seems still quite close to her, and now that she is marrying the younger Tommy, even more so. "Tess, Oh, I'm getting married! Oh, Tessie! Oh, I missed you so much! Gosh, who's the hunky, eh? Nice!" and, with that, she runs back inside, leaving Teresa with her arms lifted in the air and Jane quite speechless, puzzled by how… weird her family looks.

"Hello, I'm Patrick Jane; it's a pleasure finally meeting Li…." He stops, closing firmly his fits and trying to remember where he is, what he is doing here and, mostly, who he is supposed to be for these few days, and that person it's definitely not Senior Agent Lisbon's consultant, Mr. Jane, but Teresa's soon to be husband. At least, being both, he'll be able to call it slip, and if they'll ask for reasons, he'll tell that at the office the big bad boss wants them to be on surnames bases only. "It's a pleasure to finally meet Teresa's family. Do I have to assume that the quicksilver was the soon to be Mrs. Thomas Lisbon?" cool as always when he is in his element, under the spotlight and at the centre of the attention, while Teresa forces herself to not rolls her eyes and laughs, Jane shakes both Carol and Linda's hands while said woman are already head over heels for the man. In her brothers' shoes, she'd be upset. Hell, she is upset because he is supposed to be her boyfriend and her sisters in law are drooling over him like she wasn't even there! "Even if I have to say, I've never seen so many beautiful women just into one place!"

"Uh, well, I think you should... just… get settled down… and… uh… Teresa, you are in your old room." As Teresa is entering, she feels like laughing, at the sight of Linda and Carol speechless, and unable to talk, lost in Patrick Jane's eyes. Not that she blames them, though. If she has to admit it, it's something that happened to her more than once, and she is pretty sure it will happen more than once in the future as well.

"Thanks again for having me. I don't think I could have survived staying away from Teresa for too long." He takes her again for the hips, giving her a quick kiss on her hair yet again, making her roll her eyes. "we're not exactly used to be apart for too long. I don't know if she mentioned it, but we met at work. I work for her unit."

"Oh, don't be silly, darling. Tess' boyfriends… Tess' boyfriend is our b… Tess' boyfriend is our friend!" Linda corrects herself, blushing of a crimson red.

"Besides, it's wonderful to finally meet you. She told us so much about you since you started working together… I swear, it's like we know you, don't we, L? "

"Oh, yes! And we were always, like, he is just perfect for our Tess, why can't she sees it? We _knew_ you were, like, star-crossed lovers!"

"Ok, girls, he got it, really!" putting herself between them, trying to sound as casual as she should be in a normal situation, Teresa looks between her two sisters-in-law, a bit uneasy. "So, where's Patrick sleeping?"

"Oh, Tess, please! It's not like there's still that silly rule about no sharing rooms when there are no rings involved!" Carols says, half-drunk, patting the dark haired investigator on the head, making Teresa feeling guilty because talking about rings made her remember of his own ring, all the while they keep walking upstairs just to stop in front of a door Jane assumes being her own room. "We're not small-town! Besides, it's not like you've never slept together, right?"

"Let's start unpacking, when the men will arrive, we'll go on with the introductions and we'll third degree Tessie!" giggling, the two "adults" run downstairs, leaving the "star-crossed lovers" all alone and on their own with their cases in front of her room…

"I'm sorry about this" she mortified tells him, as they enter into her won room. As his usual, Jane studies his surroundings and Teresa studies him studying her once upon a time environment, the simple furniture and flowers on the majority of the surfaces. "I went through a floral phase when I was in my late teen." Before she could see her, then, Lisbon quickly opens the wardrobe, throwing away a poster from the "Europe" group and, once made in millions of small, minuscule pieces, she quickly puts them in a bin of her personal internal bathroom.

"So, it looks like that, even if not united in the holy bound of marriage, we'll have to share your bedroom…" he grins, almost laughs. Seriously, what was she thinking? It was quite obvious (even for him who didn't know the situation) that they were going to share the same room-and bed, being the 21st century and all.

"We're not going to share my bed!" she hisses at loud, but not so aloud that the others could actually hear her. Jane doesn't need to see her that she is as red as a tomato. And he doesn't need to tell her that, since she has a very large bed, it could actually be do-able sharing a bed without having to cuddle or something in that line. …

"Teresa, dear, if that perverted mind of your own missed it, I was talking about the room." He joins her in the bathroom, grinning at her back, feeling her tense and nervous without having to look at her face. "Teresa, dear, do I have to fear for my integrity? Because, I need to know if there's a chance that you'll jump and take advantage of me during the night, since you seem to wish so much to share a bed with me…"

"Oh, like I could actually take advantage of you, Mr. Showman! Are you sure you are not the one wishing to jump and take advantage of _me_ in the middle of the night?" she smiles, the carefree Teresa back with him as she turns and face the man again.

"C'mon, Teresa, you know that I'd never jump on you!" he tells her, more serious than he should, and again she reads his affirmation differently from what he meant. Jane, aside from the fact that he doubts he could be fit enough to be able to take advantage of her, meant that, was going something to happen between them, he wants something special and wanted from both sides (and he isn't sure of her feelings yet), while to Lisbon it sounds like she isn't his type. And it saddens her more than this mere thought should. "I'd like to change."

"Sure" she says, scrolling her shoulders, her hair moving like in the wind, and again Jane feels like trying to take her here and now. She doesn't move, though. And neither sees the change of clothes he has with him.

"Teresa, if you don't want a show and make practice, which I doubt, you'll have to leave."

"What? Do you mean…" she gets redder and redder as she sees Jane grinning, and then starting to unbutton his vest with her still in front of him. That is enough to awaken her from her "reverie", making her spin like a professional runner out of the bathroom towards the bed. "Uh, sorry, I kind of got lost there for a sec. Anyway; I was thinking that…" she says with crossed arms, uneasy, while giving him her shoulders and keeping her eyes shout at the same time. "I was thinking… the bed is quite big, so I think we could… share it… also because I know them… and were we not sharing… they'd probably know it… and…"_Oh My God, I died and I'm in heaven… _she stares, eyes wide open and dilated pupils, at the image she sees in the mirror in the corner of her room. There, she sees it, she sees _him_… she can sees the reflex of Patrick Jane's derriere and the image reflected in the bathroom's mirror as well, his chest, and he is… well, as much as she tries, she can't close her eyes, can't stop staring, because… the man seems a Greek god, an Adonis, he is well-toned and sun-bathed and… he is so damn perfect, he doesn't even seem real. _Maybe sharing a bed with him isn't such a good idea. I'm not that sure I can still keep my promise of not trying to take advantage of him, not after having seen… this! _Why the man keeps hiding such a sigh and perfection under all those awful 3 pieces suites it's a mystery to her. Like it's a mystery how she'll be able to keep looking at him without imagining the man clad only in thigh black boxer short, or maybe even less.

"Seen something you like, Tess?" he grins, amused, as he notices what she is looking at in the mirror. He is even flattered, and a lot. He has always known that Lisbon cared for him, but knowing that she is affected by him body and soul it's kind of intrigued. It's nice to know that he has the same effect, even if on a smaller level, of that much he is pretty sure, and that she has on him. As soon as he opens his mouth, she closes her eyes, in panic and feeling like throwing herself into some hole that could go directly to hell…

"Are you ready? Because I think the boys just arrived and I'd like to see my brothers again! You know, it has been kind of a long time since the last time I saw the three of them together, and I do miss them!"

"You already said that" he tells her, grinning, his breath hot on her neck. Lisbon shivers; she hasn't realized he was at her back, that he has left the bathroom. "C'mon, let's go, I can't wait to meet them!" smiling, he takes her hand in his own, warm and warming, and runs downstairs. Teresa can't help but smiling along with him. It's been a long time since she has last seen Patrick so carefree and happy, and… she missed it, and she didn't know until now. Now, now that she is seeing it, his sincere smile, those bright and smart eyes, full of life, she isn't sure she can live without seeing them every day, or, worse, every minute of the day. It should scare her, this thought, but it doesn't. Or maybe it's just that she is refusing to rationalize it, and has decided to do as she has told him as well, going with it.


	5. The Third Degree

**A/n: **Oh, yes, the damn disclaimer: seriosuly, do we really have to do it? Because, Jeez, if I'd own them, I'd not be here writing it, I'd be the writeer of a TV Shows and, well, we'd have the LIsbon romance for real...meanwhile, I just **_"write, draw, create, dream, hope and believe in Bruno, waiting for him to be blessed bu the light of reason..." _**(No, this discalimer isn't mine, it belongs to one fo the girls who wite Mentalist fiction on the italian site efpfiction, but don't tell me many of you don't share this vision...). Also, I don't own none of the aforementioned titles that inspired this thing- the movie "the wedding date", or the books "Asking for trouble" and "3 times the bridesmaid"... For PetitJ, my "muse", you rock, girl, and I hope you'll like it, even if it is tunring more "mature" (bot not M, relax people) than what I usaully do.

A/N: not considering eventual connection/pc issues, I should ahbe enough chapters untill the end of the work week; at that time, I should be more or less halfway with the whole thing, even if, eventually, I'll move things a little forward in time (just few days, though). I'm not sure when that part will be due, though, because, I'm telling you, I have to re-watch the movie "the wedding date" and re-read both books, because there are many things I'm going to use here or at least take inspiration from, and it's been a while since I've last seen the movie or read the pages of those books, so, in case you'll have to wait untill next week for the chapters from 8 till the last, well the epilogue that I don't know yet what cahpter will be, I just ask you to be patient, because, eventually, you'll have everything. and, yes, I'll do my best to give it to you very, very soon...

A/N: thanks a lot to all the people who reviewed, in case I didn't come to you personally with a PM, and to all the people who alrted and favorited me, you all rocks!

* * *

_Smiling, Jane takes Teresa's hand in his one, warm and warming, and runs downstairs. She can't help but smiling along with him. It's been a long time since she has last seen Patrick so carefree and happy, and… she missed it, and she didn't know until now. Now, now that she is seeing it, his sincere smile, those bright and smart eyes, full of life, she isn't sure she can live without seeing them every day, or, worse, every minute of the day. It should scare her, this thought, but it doesn't. Or maybe it's just that she is refusing to rationalize it, and has decided to do as she has told him as well, going with it._

When they arrive downstairs, their hands are still interlaced, and they are still smiling, almost laughing. They are not just free and happy, they are… Teresa's not sure how exactly this feeling can be described, but she is pretty sure that the term "ecstatic" could fit just a small, insignificant part of. There's no words to describe how she feels when they run, laughing together, looking into each other's eyes, holding hands. Or maybe there is, but… she is not ready yet to say it, not to him, at least. After all, loving Patrick Jane isn't as hard as someone could say. Of course, loving Patrick Jane the mentalist, the showman and former psych, she knows it's not only easy, but inevitable, but that it's not Patrick Jane, but just a cover, a mask… a fake. The man she fell in love so many months, if not years, ago, it's the one standing in front of her, looking at her like she was the only human being in the whole world, or maybe, simply, the most perfect, beautiful woman he had ever seen. She is in love with the caring man who brings justice to so many innocents, she is in love with the man she knows he'll be one day, if he'll be able to overcame his absurd whish for vengeance, and maybe, just maybe, one day, that day, she'll be able to tell him everything, to confess him the truth, that it's not just because he closes cases that he is still around, but until then… Until that day, was it going to come, she'll not say a single word, she'll do her best to avoid him from finding out- and she just knows that, will he find out, he'll simply avoid the topic and the shocking true in order to not hurt her nay further: because this is Jane, always caring, always loving, even when he does his best to try to not show it, when he does his best to shout everyone out of his world.

"Teresa, you're thinking so loudly that it's like you are screaming that you are guilty of something" he tenderly tells her, getting closer and closer to her until they are hugging, his arms around her waist and her hands on his chest. She doesn't fight it, she welcomes the contact, and it's shocking, to both of them, how natural and easy it is, how good it feels. She doesn't know what it is, maybe it's the wedding, maybe it's being there with Patrick, in her old home, her old room, maybe it's because he seems so at easy even if he is just wearing a black polo shirt and jeans with runners, but, suddenly, she feels, _they feel…_domesticated, and belonging. "I'm here for you, and we're in this together. I don't want you to regret it, if this is what you want." She simply nods, still a bit unsure, not because of what they are doing, but because of the part they are going to play. She is, although fake, his girlfriend, and the mere though makes her blush. "Good girl, that's the Teresa Lisbon I know!"

And then… she doesn't know what happen, he doesn't as well. Simply, in a matter of seconds, they both close their eyes, at the same time, and they get closer and closer to each other in their embrace, Jane is bending over her, and Teresa is leaning out him, and before they could know it, before they could realize what they are doing, that they are actually doing it, his lips are covering her owns, moving in perfect sync with them in a steady, breathless, breath-taking rhythm that leaves the both of them, moaning in the kiss… and it lasts only seconds, and not because they want it to just last seconds, but because they are suddenly interrupt.

"Ehy, lovebirds, take a room!" a voice says, and Teresa, parting abruptly from his lips, but not his arms and his gaze, realizes that it's male, and should belong to Tommy. Soon enough, a chorus of laughs and giggles can be heard across the room, and from the kitchen one by one emerges the rest of the family-or, at least, all the adult ones. At that point, Teresa has to let it go of him, and, standing side by side, she faces them. She is as hard as a piece of wood, probably on the verge of a nervous breakdown, even if just a minor one, so the kind hand of Jane on her shoulder is extremely welcomed, a clear sign that he is there with her, but not only: she knows that, with the physical contact, something that Jane has always avoided, especially with women, but lately is encouraging a lot, especially if it concerns her (not that she is bothered by the lingering touches or the hand on the small of her back, or by the way he massages her calves and her shoulders when he knows she is too tense, probably because of something he did), he is telling her to go, that she can do it. He is encouraging her, and Jane encouraging her, telling her she can do it, she can "perform"… if they'd be alone, she'd cried, so sweet it is.

"So… you already know the girls… and those are Marcus" she tells, indicating a green eyed boy with extremely short hair and a few scars on the neck and his face, and what seems to have been, long time ago, a broken nose not healed in the best way, all signs that the boy is, indeed, a Marine. "Jimmy" she goes on, indicating slightly more with the head than her hand the next young man, still green eyed, still dark haired, longer hair, though, more stylish but still incredibly military in his whole demeanor, even if, like many other guys from Aviation he has met, the guy is a bit too much hedonistic for his own good- and he is sure that both Teresa and Linda don't appreciate this side of him. "And, last but not least, Tommy" she smiles, enlightening the whole room, as she says his name and the boy suddenly leaves his spot on the other side of the room and runs to her, taking her in his arms and lifting her up in the air, and the both of them are still crying tears of happiness, while the other two boys are quite uncomfortable, on the verge of feeling extremely guilty, their wives are incredibly mad with them, sending death glared at the address of their husbands and Claire just looks at the scene crying like a fountain, like it was the most beautiful sight in the whole universe. Not that Jane could actually blame her, he agrees with the wife-to-be, but he knows better than start crying in front of Lisbon. He doesn't want to make this reunion too awkward; he just wants to help her out. He doesn't know if the silly argument she told him about was all that happened within this family (he thinks it could have more to do with the fact that, probably, Tommy doesn't remember his mother at all and remembers so little of his late father that all he knows about him are the horrible things he did to them, and can't, or maybe couldn't, stand the thought of his siblings defending his memory. Jane doubts that this "kid" could actually known what the man used to be before his wife, he himself has been there, he knows how surviving a beloved one changed a person), but it's quite sure that Lisbon hasn't spoken with Tommy in quite a long time, even if she wished to. "Anyway, guys, this is Patrick Jane." she says, biting her lips, putting her hair back on place as they finally part, and Jane, at her side, does his best to avoid laughing-or, worst, taking her in his arms and kissing her senseless, so cute she is right now (ok, maybe, just maybe, he feels the urge to take her hand back in his own, run back into the bedroom and show her just how much he really loves her. He seems unable to voice it, so, maybe, he should just man up enough to act on it…).

"Ok guys and gals, enough of this! We need the gal, but we promise, you'll have her soon enough!" giggling like she was drunk, Carol takes Lisbon for an arm, allowing Linda to take the other, and together, with Claire giggling at their back, they leave the house. On one side, Jane is quite amused by Teresa's expression, that seemed to scream things in the line of save me, on the other one, he'd like to say the same thing, but he doesn't realize it until he turns and sees what's right before his eyes right now: the Lisbon's 3, facing him at crossed arms, not slightly amused, ready for a third degree and what seems it will not be a so friendly chat…

"I hope your wives will be nice with her… she doesn't like being third degreed…" as he says so, uneasy as he has never been, in a situation he hasn't been before, Jane is patted on the shoulders by 3 hands, who guide and force to sit him at the kitchen table…

_Outside_

Sitting on the bed in the playhouse, with Claire in front of her in a chair and Linda and Carol at her sides, Lisbon looks around. She is uneasy; she keeps clearing her throat and patting her knees while avoiding eye-contact with the other women. It's definitely different from what she pictured; this is not gonna be easy, not at all. She is on the verge of panic and the only thing she knows is that she isn't going to follow Patrick's advice. She isn't going to lie while looking them in the eyes. There's no way they'll not spot her if she does so.

"Tess, seriously, I don't know what to say…" Linda starts, pale and in shock. "I mean what the hell?" Teresa is not sure what her answer to this is, but she is pretty adamant it may be a grunting sound.

"Yeah, seriously, you have to explain us how you did it…" Carol goes on, looking, serious, to her sisters in law as Teresa yet again emits a grunt and remains in silence, speechless. "How did you manage to work with that specimen for almost seven years without jump on him and have your wicked ways with the man?"

"Yeah, seriously, Tess, I need all the sordid details. I mean, Tommy is so worried for the baby that he doesn't even dare to _dream_ about having wild sex with me. I'm sexually living by proxy right now, so spill it girl, because that guy…" Claire releases a dreamy breath as she says so and yet again Teresa finds herself speechless, but this time, added to the equation, there's a dark red mark on her face.

"Eh, actually, you see girls, the fact is…" she blushes more and more, but she has told Jane to say almost the whole truth about their "situation", were they going to ask, so she'll stick to the truth, as embarrassing as it may be. "Even if we know each other from quite a while, this… dating thing is pretty new and… the fact is…" she takes a big breath, and looks at the soil instead that at the women, blushing and talking as quickly as humanly possible. "We haven't reached… that stage… yet."

"I think it will happen soon" Claire says, quite serious, like they were talking about the environment and not about Teresa's sex life like she wasn't even there. "I mean, they guy seems quite taken by you and you… I don't think I've ever seen you liking someone that much, not even that billionaire guy, and that was a billionaire, a sexy and charming billionaire."

"Well, it's also the first time she brings someone home… including that billionaire guy we never saw in person but just on magazines with her." Linda goes on; still behaving like Teresa wasn't there.

"And, I mean, have you seen how they were looking at each other, and how they kissed? I mean, wow! I think I could have an orgasm just looking at the guy…" Carol giggles, still looking at Linda and Claire, and still forgetting about a dark red Lisbon on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Talking about sex isn't exactly her favorite topic of conversation, even if they are her best friends, but they are still family, and she is still an extremely private person. "Tess, I guess it goes without saying that we just met him and we already adore the man!"

"Yes, and, honey, we know how much you adore him as well, because how could it be otherwise, considering how much you always talk about the guy? And let us tell you something… his eyes were screaming adoration and love!"

"Oh, Tess, when it will happen, I want all the sordid details! I bet the guy is God's gift to women in the sex department…" Claire goes on, sniffing and looking into the void, like trying hard to find a long lost memory "I bet he is the best Swiss Chocolate on the market…" at the sudden sentence, Teresa, lover of the finest chocolate things, can't help but see… the only way to describe them is with the sentence _sordid sexual fantasies_, that involves the man in question, chocolate, cream and strawberries and maybe, just maybe, her kitchen table. _Great, now I'll never be able to look at it in the same way, ever again… _"It's just that I've recently red this article on Cosmo, about how women tend to compare men and sex with chocolate, and I think that _Patrick _could only be described as Swiss Dark Chocolate, and if Teresa's blush is of any indication… I'd say she agrees with me!"

"No, I'm not! I'm not so venial to compare men to chocolate! I'm a cop, for God's sake!" As the conversation goes on, Teresa doesn't know exactly how to feel. Of course, her sisters-in-law's company is amusing, and they are carefree and funny, but, still, considering the topic at hand… there's a little part of her that's quite sorry that she'll never get to say how it could be making love with Patrick Jane, because she has thought, dreamed about it, for longer than she'd care to admit, and, yet, she knows it will stay that way, just a dream… The only thing she knows it's that she wants to come back inside, to the security of Jane's arms, forgetting that it's only a game, pretending that everything is real, and that he kissed her because they are in love, and not to convince her family of this lie.

Of course, she knows for sure that she'll end, soon, very, very soon, sooner than later, end broken-hearted.

_Inside_

Inside the kitchen the air is heavy with tension, so tick it could be cut with a knife. Sitting on one side of the table, from the youngest to oldest of the trio, the three brothers stand, facing at crossed arms Jane. As manipulative and good at reading people as he is, the blonde consultant is well aware of the fact that he is in a difficult situation. Like he knows that his future with the brothers' sister depends upon this little reunion, because he may claim otherwise as long as he likes, but… some kind of future with Lisbon, that's what he wants to have, maybe not in a romantic way, but he still wants it, he still wants _her_. What man in his right mind – and even not- wouldn't want the dark haired beauty in his life? He knows that there's a chance that Teresa doesn't reciprocate his feelings, because he can't read her in this department even if he (falsely) claims she is translucent, but, still, even if she did… he knows he can't tell her about how much he loves her, how much he wants her, he wish for her, because he shouldn't do it in the first place. It's not right for the memory of the ones he lost, and it's not right for her. He shouldn't even dream of promising himself to a woman when a part of him still belongs so intimately to another one, he shouldn't even think of brining Teresa in his life until there's someone, Red John, out there trying to destroy everything that's good in his life. But, mostly, he shouldn't think of stealing her heart when his soul is no longer within him, when he knows that one day he could die or rot in a cell for the rest of his days. He shouldn't be such a glutton for punishment. He shouldn't be such a selfish asshole, he knows it…

But, apparently, he is, because he can't forget the way she felt against him, he can't forget how it was kissing her, and his only, constant thought is to feel her against himself once more, to kiss her once more, to taste and feel that unique combination of scent and taste that's Teresa and Teresa only … and he already knows that once will not be enough, he knows he is already addicted to her. He can no longer bear the thoughts of being apart from her, and this time it's not some joke made at the expense of her sisters-in-law, this time is the mere truth. It felt too good to not be a good thing, the best thing.

"Would you mind to repeat how you met Tess? Because she told us a couple of things, and for her own good I hope she was kidding" Marcus is definitely a military, a hard-head Marine, and seems to be a bit too much protective of his (older) sister. In the way the Lisbon sibling interrogates him, Jane can't help but finding amazing the similarities between the dark haired man and Cho. For example, Marcus isn't saying what exactly he knows about Jane that he doesn't like. What did Lisbon told them? Not about Red John, Angela and Charlotte, and probably not about the nervous breakdown, and the year at the asylum, either. It means only one thing still stands- the very one he preferred they avoided knowing in the first place.

"Well, I was playing the psych on TV…" and that is true, they aren't going to like it, but it's still true.

"I already don't like him. I told you there was something off about the guy!" James whispers, but not so much. He clearly wants Jane to hear it, probably because he feels threatened. He saw the too appreciative glares the wives were sending the blonde.

"Well, from time to time I helped the police. Until… one day, I kind of had a crisis of conscience, and… I confessed I wasn't a psych, and decided to help the Force full time. Your sister heard of it, knew I was a closer and asked for me to join her team." It's not exactly a lie, but it's not the complete truth either, more or less, is a white lie. That a lie told for the greater god is still a lie it's not in the question, but, still… "I joined the team, we got closer and closer with each passing case, and when I realized that time was passing, I wasn't getting any younger, that I could lose her to another man and all that jazz I made my move and here we are, happy together." That's not exactly a lie either. Time's passing, he isn't getting any younger and he is well aware he could lose her to another man, and that he should get ready for this fact. Actually, a part of him whishes to lose her to another man- hence the whole Mashburn thing – because it would be the only way of keeping her safe from Red John and from suffering when Red John will be gone because of him.

Not that he so sure that he could actually go through seeing her with another man. He isn't even sure he can bear the thought of her suffering because of his actions. Damn the woman and her Mother Teresa complex, now he is even considering _arresting_ Red John for her!

"Guys, I'm not sure Tess would like her boyfriend getting a third degree from us…" Tommy is definitely the youngest of the group. Everything is screaming it, from the way he is scared of his sister and too worried about her reactions, to the way he talks with the older two; it's quite clear that he has the same respect for them, but, at the same time, he is independent enough to speak his mind. "I mean, don't you think that the only thing we should worry about is if she is happy with him?"

"I don't know, T, at first she sued to tell us the most awful things about the guy…" James says, still whispering. That's starting to get on his nerves, the acting like he wasn't there. He wonders if the female furies are doing the same thing with Lisbon…

Tommy, suddenly, turns back towards Jane. "Are you two happy together?"

For a moment, Jane is taken aback by the question, but, then, he sees it…. the light he is seeing is almost literal, and it's filling him mind with a new knowledge, and he smiles, happy, almost ecstatic. "When the end of the day arrives, my only thing I ask myself is, did I make Teresa smile today? If the answer is yes, I've reached my goal, if it's not, sometimes I could even bother her until the early hours of the day in order to see even just one minuscule smile!" that's true, completely and incredible and scary true. But it seems to kind of lift a heavy weight from his shoulders as well.

"Ok, listen" Marcus starts again, serious, crossing his hands on the table and looking into Jane's eyes "Teresa didn't have an easy youth. She lost mum when she needed her the most. She had to raise us and she had to protect us from… You know, our father… she has been an adult since the age of 12. She is… she works hard, doesn't go out as much as she'd need, she is stubborn and independent, mostly because of the job… she _needs_ to be happy; she _deserves_ it."

"I, I know, really, and that I want to do, that's what I've always wanted to do, making her happy, helping her out, no matter what, even when she didn't want to!" Again, Jane decides to be honest. He loves Teresa happy, he just adores her. He can't help but trying to make her smile as much as humanly possible. That's the reason behind the "I want to feel your smile", behind those emeralds, the pony, the strawberries and the apples, the new couch, the trust fall, the helping her out as much as he could, that's why he told her about his nervous breakdown. The only time he regrets being honest with Lisbon is the time he told the woman his plans for Red John, not for the fact that she does know now, but because of how she felt afterwards, because he knows that it broke her heart, and now that he isn't sure any longer of being able to follow his plan, he doesn't know how she'll react, if she'll understand that, when he'll tell her such, she'll not think he'll e telling a lie, try to manipulate her or worse.

"You see Patrick, you're actually the first guy she brings home, and, as much as we do love her, she isn't exactly a teen any longer, so, no pressure here, man, but, you know" Jim goes on, scrolling his shoulders "break her heart and no matter how many tricks you know, we'll dance on your grave."

"I don't have any intention of breaking her heart… I'm serious with your sister. I love her, and I'll never hurt her, no matter what." He thinks he should be scared of this truth, because this is the truth, part of it she even already knows… but he isn't.

* * *

ext: the sleeping arrangements!


	6. The Sleeping Arrangements

**A/n: **Oh, yes, the damn disclaimer: seriosuly, do we really have to do it? Because, Jeez, if I'd own them, I'd not be here writing it, I'd be the writeer of a TV Shows and, well, we'd have the LIsbon romance for real...meanwhile, I just **_"write, draw, create, dream, hope and believe in Bruno, waiting for him to be blessed bu the light of reason..." _**(No, this discalimer isn't mine, it belongs to one fo the girls who wite Mentalist fiction on the italian site efpfiction, but don't tell me many of you don't share this vision...). Also, I don't own none of the aforementioned titles that inspired this thing- the movie "the wedding date", or the books "Asking for trouble" and "3 times the bridesmaid"... For PetitJ, my "muse", you rock, girl, and I hope you'll like it, even if it is tunring more "mature" (bot not M, relax people) than what I usaully do.

A/N: not considering eventual connection/pc issues, I should ahbe enough chapters untill the end of the work week; at that time, I should be more or less halfway with the whole thing, even if, eventually, I'll move things a little forward in time (just few days, though). I'm not sure when that part will be due, though, because, I'm telling you, I have to re-watch the movie "the wedding date" and re-read both books, because there are many things I'm going to use here or at least take inspiration from, and it's been a while since I've last seen the movie or read the pages of those books, so, in case you'll have to wait untill next week for the chapters from 8 till the last, well the epilogue that I don't know yet what cahpter will be, I just ask you to be patient, because, eventually, you'll have everything. and, yes, I'll do my best to give it to you very, very soon...

A/N: thanks a lot to all the people who reviewed, in case I didn't come to you personally with a PM, and to all the people who alerted and favorited me, you all rocks, and all this owrk, this is just for you amazing eople out there...you make my day!

* * *

When, after a sandwich and a beer, Jane retreats back to the "safety" of his newfound bedroom, Teresa is already back there. She is sitting on the edge of the bed, still dressed as when they arrived from the airport, and keeps staring at her joined hands in her lap, tense. And, to see that, he doesn't need to be a mentalist. Even a blind man could see that, from the way she swallow and gulps, and a deaf man could see it from the way she keeps staring at her hands and her feet or everything that there is but refusing to focus on him even for just merely few seconds.

And even when he tries to meet her gaze, getting closer to her and standing still in front of the sitting woman, she still turns her head in the opposite direction. Of course, she does it for another reason as well. Not that Jane, the great and almighty mentalist, realizes that she is turning her head because she refuses to be at eye level with a certain part of his male anatomy that she had fantasized about for longer than she'd care admit… her biting her lips and almost closing her eyes shout should be a clear giveaway, but the man is still too much in denial about _her_ feelings to acknowledge that she may be turned on by him, as much as he is turned on by her. Not that he is going to tell her such, he still values too much that certain part of his male anatomy, even if, lately (eight years) he hasn't been exactly too keen on having intercourse, but, still, he is very interested in the petite brunette in front of him, and only time will tell what will happen between them. Maybe it could get back of use in due time… not too soon, obviously, but better sooner than later.

"Are you alright Jane?" she stands, one hand on his (unsteady) heart, and the other on his forehead, like to check his temperature or hit him playfully to force him back to the land of the living. Even if she is still embarrassed by the whole ordeal, she is still worried about him, and Jane knows, or at least he thinks he does, the reason. It's so clear in her (shining, big, like emeralds) eyes. She is Saint Teresa, and instead of being embarrassed that she'll have to share e bed with him, she is worried about how _he _will feel about sharing a bed with a woman. A part of him (small, very, very, small) is irritated that she knows him so well, that she can read him so well (otherwise, how could she know that she is the first woman he is sharing a bed with in more than eight years?), understanding every little secret he keeps from her, but, still… it's been a while since he told her everything Red John and Johnson related, because she was keeping looking at him in _that _way, in silence, letting him know that she knew and wasn't going to give up_, _until he simply _had _to tell her. After two days of another kind of silence, the heartbroken kind of silence, she started to talk with him again, telling him what she thought of the whole thing… It had been a big, huge step for Jane, a great sacrifice, and he hoped that Lisbon knew what it meant, that he was giving her free reign over the whole thing. Unfortunately, she red it as yet another way of manipulating her, and saw the betrayal instead of the act of trust…. Apparently, work can't bring them closer, nor to that stage he so wants to reach with her (and not only on a physical level, even if he is as sure as heel that the physical level will be like heaven), but maybe, just maybe, this whole thing could help him to convince Lisbon, Teresa to not give up on Patrick Jane the man and take a chance on him. "Ehy, Patrick!" she pinches him on the nose, her favorite part of his body when concerning bodily harm, and that seems to work, waking the blonde up from his reverie.

_Of course that I'm all right, Teresa dear. I'd just like for you to read Patrick Jane the man as well as you read Patrick Jane the boy wonder and pain in the ass troublemaker consultant. This way, I'd not have to actually talk about my feelings for you, because, first, when it's important, I have absolutely no way with words, and two, because I know you, and if I tell you that I'm in love with you, either you'll freak out or you'll slap me in the face claiming I'm just manipulating you in order to kill Red John and get away with murder. _He thinks, lost in his thoughts, but he doesn't tell her such, even if, maybe, he should. Maybe he should be clear about his feelings and why he is doing what he is doing right now, but he can't, not now, not yet, maybe never. He doesn't know if he is more scared about what could happen to her, should Red John find out about his feelings for the dark haired beauty, or by the possibility that she could not reciprocate said feelings. He almost died when he first lost the love of his life, he isn't sure he could keep living if he'll lose her, in either ways. "I'm fine, just… thinking, like my usual. That's all." he offers her an apologetic smile, the most sincere and happy he can get right now.

"Listen, I'm… sorry about this" she says, indicating with a movement of her head the bed at her back, apologizing for this thing once again. "I guess they assumed, we… I mean, you get it, right?"

He smiles at the dark red of her face, even if he is quite sure that, right now, Lisbon is bright red from toes to hair. He'd not mind such a vision. "C'mon Lisbon, you went on and on about me for a while, so they assumed we were yet intimate. I'd say that your sisters in law were quite curious about my abilities in the bed department... tell me, was it Claire to mention the God's gift to women in the sex department thing? She is probably already having racing hormones right now… maybe I should fear for my integrity when I'm around her and not in bed with you!" Hitting him again on the chest, this time a bit stronger, but both laughing, Lisbon leaves the room with clothes under her arms, closing herself in the ensuite.

Once inside, leaning against the wall in front of the mirror, Teresa looks at her reflection, frowning and feeling the urge to bite her nails. (She'd probably do it, if not for the nail polish she put on in the early hours of the morning). She studies herself. It's not just the embarrassment of having to share a bed with Patrick Jane of all the males she knows, it's more like… she'd like to call it fear, but she doesn't know if the term applies for this kind of situations. After all, here she is, going to share a bed with the hottest guy she ever met in her life, a guy she just adores and is in love with, and he just loves her like… maybe not a sister, but she is pretty sure that it's not love, the love-love kind of love, either. He is probably just messing around with her brothers and sisters in law's heads. He is probably just doing one of his tricks on her as well. After all, why should he fall for her, when he could have all the women he wants at his feet? Besides, he isn't even interested in rest of the women, since he is obviously still in love with his (late) wife. He told her such, right?

She studies her naked reflection, her clothes in the washer and her change for the night unceremoniously dropped on the pavement. Picking up from the cold surface the sport underwear and putting it on, she regrets not having taken something more… something with more allure for the night (just to see how he could react, not because she'd like to try anything on him. taking advantage of Jane never crossed her mind…) and while putting on one of the jersey that Tommy uses to give her for any kind of celebration, she almost laughs of herself. There's no need to try to take advantage of Jane. First, Patrick Jane is still married, even if only in his heart and mind, and second, he absolutely could never be interested in such a plain and little creature like herself. There's nothing intriguing or sexy about her, she tells to herself, and the more she reflects on such a thing, the more she realizes that Mash just wanted to mess in bed with her and never cared about a steady relationship. He never thought, not even for a second, that she could be wife to be number five, he just didn't have time to look for a brand new mistress or lover or how he called her and preferred to take as much as she was willing to give him. She scrolls her head at the realization, a realization that doesn't even come as painful as it should be, she even laughs a little. After all, she has never been in love with the man, she has been the one calling things off between them because she knew she couldn't do anything serious since she "belonged" (and she still does, she is well aware of this fact) to another man- even if said man isn't interested in her.

"Ehy, Teresa, are you coming or do I have to drag you out of there with my brute force?" she rolls her eyes smiling as she heard Jane calling her from the bedroom, amusement clear in his vice. Maybe he is not in love with her, but the girls are right. In his own unique way, Patrick Jane "loves" her, he cares about her, and he would do anything in his power to make her happy. Maybe not giving up on revenge once and for all, but at least he ahs learned to be honest, and that's a start, a small step towards something, even if she knows that, potentially, it could even bring nowhere.

"Jeez, Patrick, I thought you were the expert on everything that's woman. Don't you know that we could spend our whole life in the bathroom getting ready for you guys?" with his same amusement in his voice, she whispery screams her answer to the blonde, reaching her bed in the almost dark of the room. Only the small beside lamp is on, but the little light present is enough to see what she knows she shouldn't be supposed to be seeing right now-or maybe, staring at right now. That's a sight that she could get used to, all right, but twice in a day when she can't do anything about this hideous urges she is getting whenever she sees this vision, it's not exactly the best thing in the world. Besides, this is starting to get embarrassing. And even a little ridiculous. "Jane, please tell me you are not naked under the covers, or otherwise I'll have to burn them once this will be over and I'm quite fond of them."

"But not as much as you are fond of me, babe" He turns from the side he is on to the other, facing Lisbon, grinning, and Teresa realizes that, if a clear sight of his naked back wasn't enough to torture her, a clear sight of his perfect naked chest is even worst. That's even better than seeing it through the reflections of the mirrors. "Listen, I'm not naked, ok? I'm sleeping with my boxers. I always sleep with just my boxer on, it's the only way I'm comfortable enough to get a little sleep, and if you think I'm gonna change my habits because of _you and this,_ you are wrong. That's not a compromise I'm willing to make, even if I want our relationship to work with all my heart, babe!" he laughs, and she suddenly joins him, throwing herself under the covers, far away from Jane, on a side as well, both facing each other, still laughing. It's good, too good, and it feels too right. He'd like for it to be real, he'd like for her to know that he wants for it to be real, while Lisbon is just too scared by how she feels, what she feels for him. She knows she shouldn't sacrifice herself on the altar of love, but, still, here she is, feeling the urge of kissing him once again and never let it go. His eyes soften as he studies her, as he examines, unseen by Lisbon, every inch of her body, and the jersey. He remembers it. she was wearing it the first time he realized he was attracted by her, the first time he wanted to see her naked and feel her skin against skin with no barriers between their sweating and pulsing with desire bodies. They were on a case, that time, and yet again she had told him she wasn't going to allow him to waste his life, when he told her, yet again, that he was going to kill Red John and make him pay, one way or another. "Nice attire, I've always adored that jersey, you know? Tell me, woman, are you sure you are not interested in taking advantage of me in the middle of the night, considering that we'll wear so little clothes?" She answers him laughing and throwing one of the decorative pillows on his head, and when he is hit on the head, he joins her in her laughter. He doesn't, though, do what he'd like to do. He doesn't embrace her, he doesn't cuddle her, and he doesn't kiss her or try to lift the jersey to feel her skin on his own-he still somehow values his life and he wants it, would it happen, to be special and not just something… not this, of that much he is sure.

"Good night Casanova, and remember…."

"No funny business until we are under your under your brothers' roof, I know sweetheart" he turns back on the other side, his back to her chest, still grinning and smiling, carefree as he hasn't been in quite a long time, years, a decade or so maybe. "Can't wait to have you back all to myself, then…" Her quit silvery laughter soon fills the room and his heart, forcing him to join her as another pillows hit him once again. "Goodnight Teresa, sleep well and sweet dreams" And sleep soon reaches the both of them, letting them both falling in Morpheus' embrace for the whole night…

The rays of a not so early sun enters in the room through the filter of blinds and curtains, making everything seems like in some kind of dream, like everything in the room had an halo, everything and everyone. Jane doesn't need to look at the clock to see that's not early, he can say as much from the light entering in the room, and, besides, he is too rested. Or maybe, just maybe, he is so well rested because it's years that he is fighting with insomnia and a good night sleep normally eluded him if not forced by medications of some kind (and, in that case, it's just sleep, not rest, never rest). As he closes his eyes back again, breathing the sweet scent of the cascade of dark hair on his chest, he can't help but smile at the thought that it's been almost literally a lifetime since he last slept that well, and it's all because he has slept with this amazing little elf in his arms and…

_Ok Patrick, don't panic, she isn't going to kill you. She'll just try to kill herself. _He tells himself, as he looks at the woman who's currently peacefully sleeping in his arms, curled, very, very intimately, against him, almost rubbing against his body, the covers gone and the jersey lifted a bit so that he can see her underwear-plain white cotton panties, always practical his Teresa. He tries to move his gaze away from her intimate part, but it's quite hard, and Teresa, her breast pressed against his naked chest, her hands in his hair playing with the curls at the back of his neck, her lips pressed in a wet kiss against the pulse point, isn't exactly helping. Well, at least not everything is awake right now, otherwise, he could bet on his death. He doubts that Teresa would appreciate, or be flattered, to awake with his" little friend" pressed against her stomach...

Ok, maybe he should consider sleeping with something more besides his underwear, just in case something happened. He'd be embarrassed if it would….

As feline sounds like pours and mews leave her (soft and full and naturally bright red) lips in the moment they part with a pop from his skin, Jane feels her stirring and slowly coming back to the world. He puts a hand on her mouth, as delicately as humanly possible, knowing that she'll probably freak out and scream once realized that they have slept almost naked in each other's arms. _Going on this way, one of these nights we're going to jump and take advantage of each other while asleep… not that I'd mind Teresa taking advantage of me, though. _"Don't scream, Teresa, relax." He whispers with low voice and hot breath in her ear as she opens her eyes, wide open, almost biting his hand. "I'm going to take off my hand, but you have to promise me that you'll not freak out." she nods, and he smiles, like telling her, good girl as he removes his fingers from her lips.

"Uh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…" she begs him for forgiveness looking at his chest and not in his eyes- not that it helps, his chest is very exquisite – and parts way from his, taking a robe from the nightstand and putting it on giving him her back. "I'll do my best in order to avoid it from happen again"

"Listen, Teresa, it's no big deal, all right?" he tells her, rising himself a bit and allowing his weight to be on his right arm as he still looks at her back. "We curled up together while we were asleep. It wasn't a conscious action. It's not like one of us tried to take advantage of the other. Nothing happened, if not that, for once, I actually slept through the whole night without waking up or having nightmares." He looks at her back, gulping, hoping that she'll understand, that she'll get how important it has been for him her presence, how good she is for him, what things she does to him, to his mind. He hopes she'll understand that she saved him, she is still saving him, because he can't, he is unable to voice it, them, these feelings, too scared that she'll not believe him, that she'll reject him. But if she'll read it, if she'll read _him_… maybe she'll believe him, right? "It doesn't have to be awkward, Teresa. It will be only if we want, we allow it, to be…."

"You are right. There's nothing wrong in two good friends enjoying each other's company and platonically sleeping together, it happens all the times!" Not that there's something platonic between them or about what they are doing and would like to do with and to each other. The air, they know, everybody know, has _always_ been filled with tension, lately of the sexual kind, so thick that it could be cut with a knife. The sparks have always been there, the desire, the passion, the lust and even, on a certain degree, the love (even if, for him, it come later than for her), but they've always been too scared to admit it, never ready, unprepared for the consequences, scared by them, by the outcome, especially Teresa. "Ok, put on some clothes, I'll go and make breakfast. I guess the others already left, the girls had to run some errands and the guys wanted to hang around with their pals from high school. I'm waiting downstairs for you, in the kitchen."

As she runs out of the door, without even bother with a good morning caste kiss on his forehead or nose or cheek, her heart jumping in her chest, Jane's eyes are focused on her figure before he leaves himself falling back in the bed like a heavy weight. His heart is telling him it's finally time to move and that he is ready to finally love her as she deserves to be loved. Too bad he knows that her heart is telling Teresa that loving him means ending eventually broken hearted.

Maybe, just maybe, he should concentrate on the easy task at hand, getting as many good sleeps as he can while they are, together, sleeping in each other's arms at night, because he has the feeling it could even not happen ever again after this trip.

Better act quickly on those feelings, if he wants to win her over, and he better does it sooner rather than later.

* * *

Next: the "lovebirds" have a night out, as Tommy and Claire officially celebrate thier engagement between the beatiful people of the professional baseball word... and Lisbon gets to know what kind of boyfriend Patrick jane may be!


	7. The Engagement Party

**A/n: **Oh, yes, the damn disclaimer: seriosuly, do we really have to do it? Because, Jeez, if I'd own them, I'd not be here writing it, I'd be the writeer of a TV Shows and, well, we'd have the LIsbon romance for real...meanwhile, I just **_"write, draw, create, dream, hope and believe in Bruno, waiting for him to be blessed bu the light of reason..." _**(No, this discalimer isn't mine, it belongs to one fo the girls who wite Mentalist fiction on the italian site efpfiction, but don't tell me many of you don't share this vision...). Also, I don't own none of the aforementioned titles that inspired this thing- the movie "the wedding date", or the books "Asking for trouble" and "3 times the bridesmaid"... For PetitJ, my "muse", you rock, girl, and I hope you'll like it, even if it is tunring more "mature" (bot not M, relax people) than what I usaully do.

A/N: not considering eventual connection/pc issues, I should ahbe enough chapters untill the end of the work week; at that time, I should be more or less halfway with the whole thing, even if, eventually, I'll move things a little forward in time (just few days, though). I'm not sure when that part will be due, though, because, I'm telling you, I have to re-watch the movie "the wedding date" and re-read both books, because there are many things I'm going to use here or at least take inspiration from, and it's been a while since I've last seen the movie or read the pages of those books, so, in case you'll have to wait untill next week for the chapters from 8 till the last, well the epilogue that I don't know yet what cahpter will be, I just ask you to be patient, because, eventually, you'll have everything. and, yes, I'll do my best to give it to you very, very soon...

A/N: thanks a lot to all the people who reviewed, in case I didn't come to you personally with a PM, and to all the people who alerted and favorited me, you all rocks, and all this work, this is just for you amazing people out there...you make my day!

A/N3: I'm not sure when I'll be able to post again due lack of time for actually writing this piece of art (in my dreams...), so I've been a good girl and gave you a longer chapter to make up for it!

* * *

4 days after their arrival in Chicago, in a chilly spring evening, they are going to drive into a cab towards the Excelsior hotel where a reception for the engagement has been arranged by both Tommy's team and Claire's newspaper to celebrate the incoming union. Essentially, it's the official engagement party, the one where both Teresa and Patrick know they'll not have fun… besides, everything's… weird between the two of them.

They've kept cuddling unconsciously while asleep every night, they've kept scrolling their shoulders at this, saying at loud that it's normal for friends to share a bed once in a while, and since it's an unconscious behavior it doesn't matter. Truth to be told, Teresa, although is enjoying this, silently freaks out every day and is on the verge of a nervous breakdown, the very thing this play was supposed to avoid in the first place, and is scared of the possible repercussions for their friendship and work-related relationship once this comedy will be over, while Patrick has never felt any better in the last decade of his life, and, although scared of rejection and unable to read her responses to him, he has long decided that, one day or the other, he'll tell her the truth- or at least, he'll make her understand the true feelings he keeps hidden behind his many masks.

While Teresa is finishing dressing in the bathroom, he removes, with a single big breath, a black velvet jewelry box from the suitcase; playing with the jewels now in his hands, a collier and matching earrings, he hopes she'll understand what he means, what this gesture means… even if he is quite sure that she'll not like them. She didn't the first time, why should this time be any different?

"Ehy, Teresa, don't put on any jewels, I think you should…." He has started to talk as soon as she has heard the door opening, but once he lifts his eyes from the jewelry in his hands, he cannot go on any longer. He is just… how is he supposed to say what he is feeling, when he doesn't know it himself? Besides, with that creamy dress, she is just too damn beautiful to be described with mere words.

Off Duty Lisbon is definitely a whole different thing from on duty Lisbon.

"Yes?" she gets closer and closer, grinning with a bright, happy and satisfied smile on her features. She stands in front of him, just few inches apart, arms crossed, enjoying seeing the man in front of her gulping in surprise while trying to suppress the urge of saying inappropriate things. It is nice knowing that she can still awakens certain responses in men, and when said man is such an handsome specimen hard to catch as Patrick Jane, the satisfaction is even greater. Well, at least, once in a while, he is interested in her body…

"I just wanted to… to tell you not to… not to bother with jewels because… uh, you see, I thought you could… you know… use these."

With shaking hands, without even waiting for her to answer, he puts the pieces of jewelry on her, adjusting afterward the wild locks of dark hair. He doesn't talk any longer. She doesn't dare to break the silence, too scared to ask him what it means, while he did it.

She'd like to know what it means that he kept those emeralds he brought her so many years before, when she told him not to, and why he has given them to her now.

Once inside the taxi, Teresa knows almost for sure she'll not have fun at all. She isn't sure the same could go for Patrick, though. After all, he has always enjoyed the spotlights (even if last time he did things didn't turn out as he wished), and he absolutely _adores_ being at the centre of attention, like that time at the found-raising dinner, when he basically made fun of all those upper class people… _Ok, maybe inviting this man in particular hasn't been such a good idea. _She thinks as she turns to look at the man sitting at her right. Again, like on their first day, Patrick is looking at everything but her, in complete and astounding silence. She'd like to know the real reason behind his silence. She'd like to know if he is upset and sad because he keeps not wearing his wedding ring or if it's her presence to make him feel like staying in silence and lost in his own thoughts, looking at the outside world from the window while almost silently humming…

On her side, it's his presence that makes her feel like staying in silence and lost in her own thoughts- or better yet, the "embarrassment" she feels around him. It's just four days into their fake relationship, and she isn't sure she'll be able to resist for too long. There's the guilt eating at her because she is telling lies over lies to her family, and there's the guilt over having forced him to part ways with his beloved piece of jewelry. She feels like the other woman, even if she isn't because his wife is no more with them, and she feels like… she feels like she has forced him (even if only temporary) to give up on his need of justice (i.e. revenge) and on the memory of his family. She feels like she is forcing the man to cheat on his family, to break his sacred nuptial vows, it's almost like… she knows it's a sick comparison to make, but, if she has to be honest, she almost feels like she is raping him, stealing something away from him, stealing the most important part of the man away from him.

Or maybe, to make her so "susceptible" to his presence it's the mere fact that she isn't sure she'll be able to keep her hands to herself for too long. Even if she has always been affected by the physical presence of Consultant Jane, Patrick the man, his body, is screaming her name, calling her, trying to force her to act on her urges, to make all those fantasies he has awakened in her coming true. She wants to run her fingers through his hair. She wants to trace the pattern of his chest with her hands. She wants to taste (again) his lips. She wants to feel his skin against her own… and she knows it's all her fault. She knows she has been the one initiating it, the way she has teased him in the taxi the very first day, almost straddling him. He had joked about joining the mile high club that day – but, if she has to be honest, she'd not mind. That day, she had felt beautiful and wanted, finally able to show him, the man she was, is, attracted to, how Teresa Lisbon truly is, how she is, was, outside the office. Not that she cares too much about this "aspect". After all, she is still a red blooded female and Patrick Jane is quite the male specimen, illegally handsome and charming. She doubts that any female could resist him- her sisters in law didn't, and she knows for a fact that they are crazy, head over heels, over her brothers, even too much for her own taste.

What troubles her, what scares her, is how at easy she is around the man, how good she feels when she is with him, how much she trusts him. It shouldn't feel so right being in his arms, or being nuzzled in the neck, waking up in his arms, tangled in a mess of almost naked limbs shouldn't be the most beautiful feeling in the whole world… nothing of this should feel right or good or perfect, because, according to Teresa, it can mean only one thing: she is going to brokenhearted at the end of this piece, whatever she likes and wants it or not, whatever she'll do or say.

Rhythmically tipping his right index finger against the door of the car and his left one against the soft fabric of the leg of his tuxedo, Patrick hums almost silently an almost unknown tune while trying to clear his mind and conceal his thoughts to Teresa (and the rest of the world) as well. It has been a long time since he has been scared for the last time, and it wasn't over something like that. Patrick definitely wasn't ready to… to this Teresa Lisbon.

It's a good thing he is such a great performer; otherwise, he'd have his wicked ways in some secluded space with the dark haired beauty. Or he'd be very, very, very embarrassed. Or maybe both, he isn't quite sure. He is just sure of one thing: Teresa Lisbon, the real one, and not the one hell-bent on CBI rules and protocols; she is the most marvelous, sexiest, sweetest, funniest, most caring creature he has ever met in his entire life. And he has met quite the number of people in his life. She is the strictly by the book cop he likes to entertains with his antics; she is the saint who swore, and swears, to save him, she is the fragile creature, in need of affection, he has decided to always save, she is the stubborn woman he swore to always help, liked it or not, she is the somehow shy creature he has fallen for, even if he has tried his best to avoid it, and she is the beautiful and sexy woman he wants body and soul- lately, mostly body.

He isn't sure how long he'll be able to perform. The longer they stay together, the harder it is to keep it quiet about his real feelings for her; every morning, when he wakes up satisfied and rested by a good night's sleep, it gets harder and harder not act on those feelings, not answer to the messages his body, intimately entangled and embraced with hers, screams every time they are that close. One of these mornings he is going to embarrass himself, he just knows it. It hasn't happened yet, but sooner rather than later his body will answer to her presence, to her warm and breathing and alive body pressed against his own. The next ten nights will be hell, of that much Patrick Jane, fake psych, fake boyfriend and mentalist is sure of.

The taxi driver has to call them times over times when they arrive in front of the Excelsior, both of them too lost and caught by their own thoughts and inner turmoil to even notice such a particular.

"May I tell you once again to relax and live a little?" as they are standing in front of the Excelsior, her grins at her, hoping to cover a little his real emotions. Patrick is doing his best to seem casual about the whole ordeal, but, truth to be told, he isn't. As often, as always, his cocky grin is just a cover for his real thoughts (thoughts that, right now, aren't exactly friendly). After all, he has to behave; he has to be at his best because he has promised Teresa to. He isn't Patrick Jane here. Here he is Patrick, Teresa's boyfriend, and nothing more nothing less. Behaving like she is the woman of his dreams and he can't have her… it seems rather inappropriate, and a clear giveaway of the lie they are building.

She smiles at him, and pats him on the chest like he was a puppy. "Jeez Patrick, are you never tired of being so full of yourself and that bold?"

"Considering that once we'll walk past those doors every man and few women will kill me, I'd say that being full of myself and that bold is the least I can do." His arm finds magically her shoulders, and they start to walk, at each other's side, toward their "goal", passing through the huge glass doors.

"I hate to repeat myself as much as you do, Patrick, but believe me; you are too bold and full of yourself for your own good." She shivers for a millisecond, realizing what she has actually just told him. She knows that Jane IS bold and full of himself, but the way she told him so, but she knows that maybe the "for your own good" and the "too" were quite uncalled for, considering that the man, the real one behind the mask of arrogant jerk and cynical bastard, swims in guilt, and to end the world as he knew so many moons before it has been just that. She suddenly tenses, freezing on the spot, even if they are still walking, and Teresa can't help but hope that she just didn't ruin everything.

But Patrick doesn't seem affected by her words, at least not as she thought he would be. He stops walking, true, but he turns to look at her, affectionate and with a real, although small, smile on his lips. "Teresa, dear, being bold is the least I can do, considering that almost all the man and few of the women here will mentally kill me for being the guy that got the most amazing and marvelous woman of the party" he whispers with a hot breath on her neck, and she knows he still smiling. She blushes, and doesn't even try to deny he is right- in part.

She knows she is different from her usual, and as soon as she saw her reflex in the mirror, with a knee length cream dress that hugs her perfectly, embracing her curves, a bit more of makeup than usual… she thought she was stunning, and couldn't help but smile at herself, proud of the job done. And she doesn't even want to start thinking about what Jane has done with himself.

If she has to be honest, it's not like the man has to try hard to be charming and handsome, basically, he is always charming and handsome, but put Patrick Jane into a brand new, light blue, tailored suite, add a pair of flashy black shoes and hair in perfect order, as perfect as never before (not that she minds the rebellious curls, because she doesn't; his rebellious curls are even too sexy for their own good) and the result is… well, the result is a more than usual breath-taking Patrick Jane.

If she wasn't in troubles before, she is in a trouble right now, that's for sure.

Patrick caresses both cheeks, then, moving his hands along her body, without ever cease contact with her skin and the fabric of her dress, he looks as his fingers end up interlaced with her own ones; Teresa knows he is just, probably, getting used to play the part, but his preying eyes and his not so subtle touches are enough to make her melt and forget it's supposed to be a show. "Relax, Teresa, close your eyes, take a big breath and count to ten, and when you'll open then again, I promise everything will be easier." He releases her hands, but he is still happy, he is still smiling when he grins at her pinching the bridge of her nose. "C'mon Teresa, the sooner we start to enjoy this evening, the sooner it will be over!"

_Yeah, like it's possible… I don't think I'll be able to relax this evening! _She knows she can't relax or even enjoy herself, not with Jane at her side, looking so sexy that it should be illegal, not when he looks at her like she is the only woman in the world, like they really belong together, when he touches her, when his hands skimming over her skin turns in the most intimate gesture she has ever felt, something right and pleasant, too right and pleasant. _Repeat, it's not a date, it's not a date, and you are not dating Patrick Jane._

"Teresa, let it go, just relax and don't over think…." He repeats her, once again, once again whispering into her ear. She closes her eyes, gulping, hoping that he could, would, stop reading her, also because she isn't ready to face a Patrick Jane who knows of her feelings and doesn't reciprocate them. But it's hard, forgetting what they are and what they are not, when his thumb keeps skimming over her lower lip, lingering there more than it should (even if it shouldn't be there in the first place), it's hard, forgetting when she'd like to do devilish things to said thumb and many other parts of his body, it's hard, forgetting when everything she'd want to do is moaning as he keeps skimming over her lip. _Patrick Jane, you're going to be the death of me. _

But as soon as the contact started, it ends, suddenly, and silence falls upon them once again, until Jane breaks it once again, uneasy, his hands, probably sweating, patting his legs nervously while he tries his best to cover it and comes back to being his usual jerk self. "Claire and Tommy are coming our way. Do you want me to give you a little kiss to make it more veritable?"

"NO!" she almost screams almost in panic, getting redder and redder by the second. She can barely (barely) "stands" Jane kissing her "in private" (if the first, and until now only, kiss at her old house can be described as given in private)… she doesn't even want to start thinking about she could answer to another one, given just to show how passionate he, they both, can be as newly lovebirds. Soon Jane finds himself embracing Lisbon for the waist, nuzzling her hair as his laugher magically alleviates the tension, a smile of pure amusement gracing his features.

"Geez, are you sure you are not the two getting married? Because, sis, you two behave awfully like newlyweds!" Quickly, Tommy kisses his sister on the forehead, using at his advantage the fact of being way taller, while he leaves the cheek for an amused and way too much intrigued and malicious Claire. The woman, as old as Teresa, almost 10 years older than the man she'll soon get married to, has chosen for the evening an imperial dress, that allows everybody to notice the slightly prominent belly. And, even if it could go unnoticed, the hands she keeps putting every second on her belly would give her (them) away.

"Hello, Mr. Jane!" she tells him, amused, as Patrick, once Tommy has already moved to other guests, kisses her hand like the perfect gentleman he can be. "I'm really I can't stop to talk with you yet, buy I'm the guest and I have duties to fulfill. Until then, please, have fun, and… look for James and Marcus. You are at their same table, in case you want to grab a drink, something to eat. Besides, I think that Tess will soon feel like resting her feet!" with that last remark about Teresa's quite high black slave sandals, in an ocean of giggles, Claire leaves, leaving behind an extremely embarrassed Teresa and a way too amused Jane.

The man definitely likes her family too much for comfort.

"Care to dance?"

"Eh?" she looks at the man, puzzled, at her side. Patrick is standing at her side, hands in his pants pockets, trying to understand where the mind of "his Teresa" was when he has asked her to dance. Her speechless expression is just priceless, and he can't help but repeat himself: she amuses him.

"I asked you if you'd like to dance." he grins at her, taking her back in his arms, sending death glares at a couple of guys who were eyeing the woman who's now in his arms. She looks at Jane, and at her surrounding: when did it happen? She hasn't seen this coming. She hasn't even realized they were dancing until they are doing it from quite a while. "C'mon Teresa, I'll even let you think I'm the cold hearted bastard who has been that much if an idiot to never look at you." She tenses even more in his embraces as they move rhythmically. Last time they talked about this, the night they almost kissed, he had talked like she was the one guilty of something (the cold hearted guy you worshipped from afar") , not, it seems a lot like they guy (Alexander Lexington, quarterback) was the one guilty of something- of having disrespect her and her feelings. She wonders why the sudden change in his words, why he seems to care more than he already used to.

_Don't think about that. Don't think about him. _But it's hard, and the more Jane's grip becomes tighter, the tenser she gets. This is not good for her, it will only make things harder, and she doesn't want it. "I've seen our table. I think I need the rest Claire suggested" As she parts ways with him, they both, unknown to the other, feel the lack of something, feel almost empty, void. It's with reluctance and almost in tears that Lisbon reaches her table – or at least, the one she told him it was their table. No member of the family is there yet.

As he sits at her side, Jane studies the environment. He should be in his element, great party, reach people and beautiful women with a lot of skins on display (he may have chosen celibacy bit he is still a red blooded male, he still notices women, especially a certain one), but, somehow, he is as tense as Lisbon. It's not the party the issue, the issue is the astonishing woman at his side, who keeps looking at the floor and refuses to meet his gaze.

Of course, one of the problems is that too many guys, of all the age, are actually staring at her, lusting after her, having sordid ideas about her. he hates being who he is and being able to do what he is able to do right now, he'd just… hurt them, slap them, kick them while they are still on the floor what they are thinking about right now. His precious Teresa is too much of a good woman, too much of a saint to do such things, to be the receiver of such thoughts.

Well, of course, at the end, he should kick himself as well, since, if he has to be completely honest with himself, and that's not an issue any longer, he actually shares a lot of those fantasies. And he even would like to make them coming true. So, maybe, just maybe, he is even worse than them. But, at the same time… at the same time, they don't have any right on the woman. Even only out of respect, they shouldn't do that. She is there with him, they've seen it… but maybe he hasn't been "caveman" enough to allow them to get the point.

He turns to look at her, meeting, finally, her gaze. There's something in the eyes of the man, and she doesn't seem able enough to understand what exactly it is. She has never seen it. So, since she has never seen it, she can't see that what is in his eyes is hunger – and not of something of the food variety – nor she notices him shivering, and not for the temperature. She is the one making him shiver, because she is beautiful, sweet, caring, determined, strong, respectful, faithful, loyal, smart, sensible, and even romantic at times, and those eyes… those emeralds just make him melt. He has felt such a need to take her in his arms and kiss her, not even that evening at the reunion. _Maybe I should just kiss her, and go with it. _He grins as he gets closer and closer, and she sees it, getting more and more worried with every passing second.

"Patrick, whatever you have in mind… don't" he knows her voice is (kind of) telling no to whatever he is planning of doing, but her eyes, her trembling voice, and they way her body get closer and closer to his own are telling him something entirely different.

"Live a little Teresa… and go with it" Suddenly, his left arm is around her waist, brining her against his body, while his right hand finds itself on the back of her head, playing with the dark curls it finds there. His lips get closer and closer, slowly, a torture for the man, but he needs to give her time to retreat in case he'd red her wrong. He wants, needs, to give her time to stop this, but, God merciful, she doesn't. Teresa is the one closing the distance between their lips, she is the one that, mere seconds they could start, already at closed eyes, is softly moaning…

Jane doesn't know what it is, if it's the moan or her scent of Cinnamon and Teresa Lisbon, or maybe it is how she answers to him… he just knows that he has planned for a small peck on the lips, like on their first day here, but it turns out completely different, it's a slow, sensual and lust-filled kiss that includes battling tongues and sot moans of pleasure and ecstasy.

He forgets everything and everyone; he forgets where they are as she takes life like for magic in his arms. she gives him back as much as he gives her, her own passion seems to fuel his own, her hands in his curls to deepen even more the kiss send him over the edge; more than ever Jane can't help but hate the time he wasted, can't help but hate himself for the kiss he never got to gave her that night two years prior.

"You can't imagine how long I've waited to kiss you like that…" he admits once they slightly part, both red and panting, out of breath, but clearly at easy and happier than they've been in a long time. She smiles at him, not shy, but bright. And in the same way he has done before, she takes the initiative. She is the one initiating the contact of lips this time, one hand on the back of his skull, playing with his curls like she does every night in her sleep, the other one brining him closer and closer by the tie. There' nothing of shy about this kiss, not the start. It' soon, as it starts, all about passion and lust and desire. Again his hands find her hair and brings her closer and closer, again he fights for dominance in the kiss, again the passion and the heat grew stronger and stronger, again they forget about everything and everyone… until the simply have to part, and only because of the lack of oxygen.

He looks at her, scared of the possibility she could feel rage, fear or regret, but he doesn't see any of this. Instead, he sees… something.

"Do you think that the people here got that you are mine?" he asks, almost shy, their fingers interlaced once again, trying to break the tension by being his usual self, grin and smile included.

"Patrick, believe me, you got to convince me!" she almost whispers. But when she does it, she smiles, red cheeks, and keeps skimming over still bruised lips, like to see if it really happened, if he really just did it.

"Me too…" He grins again, and again he gets closer and closer, and again she doesn't fight but welcome the kiss, even if this time it is for real just a peck, but sweeter than any other peck of the lips should be and full of promises.

"You're the best actor I've ever seen, Patrick Jane… they should give you an Oscar!" Her words have the affect of a cold shower on him, and his heart breaks in millions of tiny little pieces as he hears them. But, still… she is looking at him in the eyes while saying so. And he has to admit she was right. She is totally unable to lie while looking into the eyes, because her eyes are shining with a light he knows too well for personal experience.

There's no way that he is allowing her to walk away from what they can be. He'll make it real, because he knows the truth. She loves him, even if she is scared of it, of him. But he'll show her he is a changed man, a better man, and that he is worth her.


	8. The Game

**A/n: **Oh, yes, the damn disclaimer: seriosuly, do we really have to do it? Because, Jeez, if I'd own them, I'd not be here writing it, I'd be the writeer of a TV Shows and, well, we'd have the LIsbon romance for real...meanwhile, I just **_"write, draw, create, dream, hope and believe in Bruno, waiting for him to be blessed bu the light of reason..." _**(No, this discalimer isn't mine, it belongs to one fo the girls who wite Mentalist fiction on the italian site efpfiction, but don't tell me many of you don't share this vision...). Also, I don't own none of the aforementioned titles that inspired this thing- the movie "the wedding date", or the books "Asking for trouble" and "3 times the bridesmaid"... For PetitJ, my "muse", you rock, girl, and I hope you'll like it, even if it is tunring more "mature" (bot not M, relax people) than what I usaully do.

A/N: thanks a lot to all the people who reviewed, in case I didn't come to you personally with a PM, and to all the people who alerted and favorited me, you all rocks, and all this work, this is just for you amazing people out there...you make my day!

A/N3: I'm not sure when I'll be able to post again due lack of time for actually writing this piece of art (in my dreams...)... tomorrow is out of discussion, that's for sure 8and I beg your pardon), but I hope I'll be able to update soon!

* * *

It's their 9th day in Chicago, nine days since they are just Patrick and Teresa – at least in public. Teresa doesn't know exactly why, but whenever she is, they are, in public, she finds she can't deny the man anything. She knows that Patrick Jane has never been one for affection, or at least for public display of affection, always troubled by the smallest human contact, especially if with a female specimen of the human race, but whatever may be the reason, he is acting contrary to his habits with her. She doesn't know what it is with Jane, she doesn't know if he is just acting, if he is trying to win her over or messing with her head, if he is honest with his feelings of what else. She just knows that every night he cuddles her to sleep, while they are still wake and not any longer once asleep, and he looks for contact, any kind of contact, in any possible occasion. Holding hands, walking arm at arm, embracing, and yes, even passionate kisses aren't an exception any longer. Between them, whenever someone is looking, it's the rule – especially the kisses.

Honestly, sometimes she thinks he'd kiss her senseless even when they are alone. Sometimes, when they alone with just almost zero clothes on and he looks at her in that particular way, like an animal would look at a prey, she is almost (almost, because he is still Patrick Jane, pain in the ass consultant, bloodthirsty for revenge, hell-bent on revenging his family through murder, still in love with his family) sure he'll try to take her then and there.

Shed' probably not mind it, if things were different, if Jane was the man he was, and wanted to do what he wants to do. But he is, and he does, and it doesn't matter, she doesn't matter. She has accepted she isn't a part of his picture a long time ago, that there was a part of him she couldn't have, couldn't fix. Loving Patrick Jane, from afar, like the quarterback for high school, is a thing, being loved by Patrick Jane… not even fantasy can start to cover it. It is simply impossible; she shouldn't even dare to dream of it, of a life with him… but he is making things so damn hard… he is behaving like a perfect gentleman, like the perfect boyfriend (both things she is sure he has been, could be once again, if he could, but he is Patrick Jane, so he can't, will not allow himself to). She becoming an addict and her favorite drug is named Patrick Jane, and the day they'll have to part ways, the day they'll come back to reality, the day he'll turn out dead or a murderer and she'll have to arrest him… _Good Luck, Teresa. You just won the award for incoming broken heart._

"Where are you, Teresa?" She feels his fingertips skimming gently over her nocks, and Teresa, suddenly, jolts awake. She hadn't intended to dream awake, but she did, she does. She can't help thinking about the man, about whatever they are going on, of how scared she is, about how she'll suffer in the end, how much she is already suffering. But, still, every time she hears his voice, soft and low and sweet and sensual, she melts, she falls back into oblivion, she forgets everything and everyone. It's not right, it's not good, it's not even remotely healthy, mostly for her, but she can't help it. She has always had a thing for Patrick Jane; even Bosco on his first week got it. She has been the one fighting this concept right from the start, and now, now that she has decided to acknowledge it, she'll have to suffer the consequences. She knew it was a mistake inviting him over, but she still did it. She did it because she wanted to have an effect on her family, and because… because she needed an excuse for staying close to him, for as long as she could. She can't bear the thought of being away from the man; he is part of her existence, of her life, of her routine. Once they'll part… she'll no longer exist, she'll cease to exist.

"What kind of question! I'm here!" here, being a baseball camp in a public park in Chicago, where she and they boys used to go as children, where she gave lessons to her brother Tommy about the sport he came to love. Today, they are all back there, with few other friends as well, few of them unknown to Lisbon, and they have decided to play a game between friends for "old time's sake" and because, somehow, they Lisbon's still think that going through memory lane for them isn't as bad as everybody thinks. Of course, they had their bad moments, and probably the bad ones overcome the good ones, but they still happened, they still were there, and as few as they are, they aren't going to forget the good things just because people supposes that it's how they should do.

Jane smiles, enjoying the view of Teresa as Teresa only, and not Agent Lisbon, dressed with white shorts, running shoes and a light blue T-shirt. Part of him is glad that she feels like she can let it go even if he is there, another part of him, is, quite frankly, resenting her because she keeps acting like nothing is happening between them, like every time they touch, they kiss, it's just an act of play and not what he see it as, an act of love and love only. She is telling him a lie, he knows that her mind is somewhere she doesn't like too much, a pale he hates as well. He'd bet all his money, and he has plenty, that she is, yet again, over thinking about him and his mistakes and his plans for revenge. He knows he shouldn't do it, he shouldn't push the issues, but she is just too adorable, too cute for her own good, and he loves her too much to let it go, to let it go of her. He knows it's dangerous and selfish, but he is sick and tired of pretending, of being unhappy, of punishing himself. They'd not want it, this, for him.

She feels his blue eyes on her, staring at her like he could read her through her own eyes; Jane doesn't know if Lisbon understood, is understanding it, but he no longer cares about a single thing in the world. He just cares about her, he just want her, the beautiful and smart and caring woman in front of him. He doesn't care what she thinks, he knows the truth, he knows it's not three to mess with her head or because he doesn't have anything else to do. He is there because of her, he is there for her, because he wants and needs her.

"You seem a bit distant, even worried, that's all. And as your boyfriend, it's my duty making sure everything's all right" he smirks a little, leaning closer to her. He is nuzzling her hair, inhaling her scent, the same scent he inhales, on purpose, every night. He is scared if what will happen once it will be over. They just have less than five days here in Chicago, and they are still just a fake couple. He is crazy about what he could do if he'll not get the real deal before the arrangement will be over, he simply can't stand it. the thought of Lisbon with someone else… it has been hard enough knowing she had just slept with another man, even if he had been the one pushing her towards Mashburn, but thinking of her being with someone else… he wants and needs her, to have her, to feel her.

"Oh, sure, I forgot you're such the perfect gentleman! After all, you always worry about me, especially when you set your excellent plans in motion!" she smiles, almost laughing, pinching his cheek; the contact is meant to be friendly and a joke and friendly, but Patrick's eyes turn dark and serious, and without saying a word he takes her hand in his own and interlaces their fingers, bringing their joined hands to rest on his heart.

She doesn't know if being scared or fascinated. She doesn't know how to react to Patrick being so serious, so desperate, almost in tears. She has never seen him showing so many emotions, not even when Red John is concerned. "Patrick, what's wrong?"

He looks around, almost in panic, and then he sees something and he smiles, almost a Cheshire cat grin that gets her worried a little, and, never letting it go of her hands, he runs with Lisbon, until they are barely few meters away, hidden behind a group of trees, her back against one of them, Patrick still holding her hand against his heart. He looks at her, smiling, and she smiles in return. None of them dares to break the silence; Teresa simply looks at him, quizzically, and before she can realize what's going on….

He kisses her, almost like the second time they did (the "real" first kiss they shared), reversing on her all his passion, all his desire for her, all his need of her. They've kissed in public in the last few days, but nothing like the ones they shared at the dinner, the kind of kisses he needs and wants for her. He can't believe her has been that good to resist taking her in his arms in such a way for this long, for five long days… again she takes life in his arms, and Patrick alleviates his grip on her, like to give Teresa the chance to say no. Instead, she takes him for the lapel of his polo shirt, guiding him closer and closer, making their bodies collide, and, once satisfied with their position, she throws her arms around his neck, letting her fingers explore the softness of his golden curls as they deepen the kiss, a kiss made of passion, lust, and fighting tongues and scratching teeth, moans and bodies in fire.

When they part, minutes and minutes later, they are out of breath, and look at everyone but them, even if their foreheads are resting against each other. They don't even talk, they just breath in and out, trying to regain some kind of composure. Jane, though, doesn't let it go of Teresa, he holds her, pressed against his body, like for dear life. It takes him minutes, long, long, minutes, to find the strength of letting her go, and only because he knows that, otherwise, he'll do something rushed, like trying to undress her on the spot. He'd prefer to not put any distance between them, but he has to.

So, the find themselves looking at their feet, standing in front of each other, her hands behind her back, Jane's ones in his jeans pockets. "You know, it's… I'm getting used to this, Teresa." She looks sat him, almost in disbelief, trying to decipher the inner meaning of his words. She is reading something in those words, but maybe it's the dreamer in her reading too much in this thing. After all, as far as she knows, she is the first woman Jane has kissed in almost ten years, so, if he passes the line a bit, it's just because he isn't been in intimate contact with a female body in a long time."But, you know me. I like being in control, and… I'm good at managing my habits, even the bad ones, and…"

"I beg your pardon?" She silently screams hitting him in the chest with a finger, awakened from her reverie by his words, words she wasn't waiting for, wasn't expecting to hear. "Are you telling me I'm not good enough for the almighty Patrick Jane? Are you telling me that you seriously expect me to believe that it was just a play, even this kiss? You've never kissed me in private, Patrick" she says, underlining his given name "You never had reason to. But know you did. Tell me why I should believe that I'm such a bad thing for you."

"You are not a bad thing, Teresa; it's not what I meant. It's just… you are addictive and… I shouldn't be this selfish, because… when people get close to me… bad things happen to them… and…"

She hysterically laughs, taking a step closer to him, facing Patrick at crossed arms. "So, let me get it, you're doing it _for me? _Guess what, Mentalist, I'm not buying it! The truth it's just that _you don't want to _stop being the selfish asshole you've always been, _you don't want_ to allow me to get into your way while you look for revenge, but last hour news, babe…" she keeps going on, almost laughing, but serious as well, and upset, as upset as he has never seen her, and sad, so sad, so sad it breaks his heart in two. She gets closer and closer and closer again, and frees her hands, her index now again on him, but this time sweetly and softly. "This part of you wants you to keep going on as you always did" she says, softly, but rage still visible and audible as she skims over his forehead, just to follow a path to his lips, where she stops for few seconds, and then his heart. "But those parts of you, they want you to… I know you want me, Patrick, I do, so, please, unless you make up your mind about what is more important for you and stop your mind-games… don't touch me, don't kiss me, don't… just don't, Patrick, please."

He doesn't answer her. Jane simply looks at Teresa leaving and joining once again the others. He waits for few minutes before coming back as well, looking at the soil, and closed fists. He can't stop cursing himself for having accepted this damn deal. He can't stop cursing himself for wanting her so badly, but, mostly, he can't stop cursing himself for being unable to voice his own feelings and mess everything every damn time he tries to tell her how he feels. __


	9. The Bachelorettes & The Bachelors

**A/n: **Oh, yes, the damn disclaimer: seriosuly, do we really have to do it? Because, Jeez, if I'd own them, I'd not be here writing it, I'd be the writeer of a TV Shows and, well, we'd have the LIsbon romance for real...meanwhile, I just **_"write, draw, create, dream, hope and believe in Bruno, waiting for him to be blessed bu the light of reason..." _**(No, this discalimer isn't mine, it belongs to one fo the girls who wite Mentalist fiction on the italian site efpfiction, but don't tell me many of you don't share this vision...). Also, I don't own none of the aforementioned titles that inspired this thing- the movie "the wedding date", or the books "Asking for trouble" and "3 times the bridesmaid"... For PetitJ, my "muse", you rock, girl, and I hope you'll like it, even if it is tunring more "mature" (bot not M, relax people) than what I usaully do.

A/N: thanks a lot to all the people who reviewed, in case I didn't come to you personally with a PM, and to all the people who alerted and favorited me, you all rocks, and all this work, this is just for you amazing people out there...you make my day!

A/N3- AND HUGE BEGGING! I'm so sorry it took me so long to update this, more than ten days, but between work, family, other issues, my nopturne insomia (ie I can't sleep at night, but I'm awfully tired all day long) and me being, sometime, a bit lazy (as I love to tell my mum, "I am just CLOSE to perfection, I've never claimed I am actually perfect") this chaper didn't wanted to listen to any reason... anyway, next saturday (Febrauary the 26th) it's my 27th birthday (Yes, I'm gettind old, I'm well aware of this fact...) and I seriously hope that, by then, it will be over...

* * *

It's the evening before the wedding, and Teresa is sitting in the car, gentle "offer" of her brother Tommy, while Jane is driving her to Ellen's, a restaurant where she and the other girls will have the bachelorette party. Patrick's going to drop her there, and is supposed to move to some pub where the guys will celebrate the bachelor party. According to Tommy, theirs will be small and nothing too fancy or wild. According to Claire and the girls, theirs will definitely be wild.

Not that she cares too much about these details. She is too worried, too consumed by Jane, by Patrick, and his silences, by his sudden change in behavior. When, few days prior, she has told him to be quiet and stop it, she didn't mean to end it at all. she just… she just wanted to understand, for him to understand, what he was after, she needed to understand if Jane got the repercussions of his actions. She was quite sure he didn't, not yet.

Apparently, though, now he does, because he barely touches her, he barely kisses her, and only in public, always in public. He no longer looks for her; he no longer reaches her form while asleep. He no longer cuddles her, nuzzles her neck or her hair. Sometimes she wonders if they are still, at least, friends at all, because, once again, he is alienating himself, and she knows why, it's always the same, old, reason… She'd bet he has understood he can't allow her to came into his way to kill Red John, he'll have decided that he can't tame the memory of his family with just… for just an adventure, or a one night stand with her.

Why should he love her, why should he be even only attracted by her? She'd never date herself, figures another man, one like Patrick Jane…

"I'm not going to fight you, not while we are here, so stop staring at me because it's pointless" She remains speechless at his words, also because she hasn't realized she was looking at him in the first place; besides, he has never, ever, stopped looking at the road in front of them… Not that she is surprised by it, he, logically, knows everything there is to know about her, no wonder he can feel her looking (better yet, staring worried) at him. "Your family is already worried because they think we're breaking up. Don't make it worse by fighting and making everyone upset. They don't deserve it."

"I know it, they are my family" she murmurs, but loud enough he can hear her as she runs out of the car once he is parked outside the restaurant. "And I don't need someone who considers me a _bad habit _to tell me that!" she is silently screaming now, pointing a finger in his chest as she faces Jane.

The man tries to look away to calm down enough, clenching and unclenching his fists at his sides, hating himself for the choice of words. He didn't mean it like that, he thought it was supposed to sound… funnier, but Lisbon, Teresa, didn't get it, she still doesn't. He sees it as a compliment ("I can't get you out of my head") whiles all she reads in his simple statement is an insult ("I can't waste my precious time and tame the memory of my past with someone like you"). Ha can't believe they work so well together. On duty, they are always on tune, she has learned his tricks, she knows when he is playing and to play according to his plans, hell, sometimes she even anticipates his own plans and deductions… but here, outside of work, they are completely unable to share a conversation, a real one, they are completely unable to share their own feelings, the real ones. He knows he loves her but he can't voice it, for so many reasons, and he doesn't know what she is thinking of him, what she feels for him. It scares him as hell, but he isn't letting her go this way, he can't allow her to leave now, this mad and upset. Even an idiot could understand they just fought, figures her family, so, in the blink of an eye, he leaves the car, and stops her, putting Lisbon in the unfortunate position of being between his body and the side of the sport car.

He looks at her in the eyes, and it's hard, so hard for her to keep eye contact…. She can sees he is mad beyond reason, angered with her, but, at the same time… the moment he puts his hands either side of her, she can sees it as well, in the way he barely licks his lips with the tip of his tongue, in the way his pupils are slightly dilated, they way he gulps…. He is mad, that's for sure, but he is resolute, as resolute as never before. She has never seen him this way… not even when Red John was concerned.

"Ok Teresa, you know what? Do you want to know what holds me back?" she makes a move like to talk, but he lifts, barely, a hand and a finger, silencing her. "I'm talking here, Lisbon. I'll tell you what, it's the fact that you refuse to believe me and to trust me! And, I'm not here to play games with you" he goes on, lowering his voce of an octave, sensual, but sweet, so, so sweet as he is practically breathing into her, their lips just few inches apart. "I just want you to relax, and stop worrying, because I care about you more than you could ever imagine, and… I don't want you to doubt… to think you are not worth… me or anyone… because you're an amazing person, ok?"

She can only nod as she detects something in his eyes, she isn't sure what. She knows he is sincere, but there's something there as well, something she can't define yet, something she can only…hope for. Her breath dies in her throat as he cups her face with the hand he previously used to silence Lisbon, and she leans into his touch, almost moaning. She has to fight the urge to initiate the contact yet again, to close the gap between them-better yet, between their lips.

She'd do it without problems, and probably without even any regrets, if she'd not be interrupted. "Lovebirds, what about you drop it for a little while?" Linda's giggled statement in echoed by the group of women attending the party, all stationed at the entrance of the local, all looking at Teresa and Patrick giggling and laughing and wowing the man… blushing of a deep crimson red, Teresa can't help but consider the fact that, 90% of the times she is with him, Jane steals her attention enough to allow her to stop noticing the rest of the whole world around her. And it's not such a good thing, especially if they were at work. She can already imagine the scene, her, sitting at Hightower's desk, telling something in the line of "I know I let the guy escape, but in my defense, I didn't even see him in the first place. I was too busy staring at Jane in the eyes, imaging how he could look like completely bare of clothes, preferably on the covers of my bed." Yeah, like it could happen, her, admitting she has sordid fantasies about her consultant, and to her boss nevertheless.

On second thought, she reflects grinning, maybe she should. Considered the way Hightower keeps looking at him (i.e. staring at his ass when she thinks no one is noticing) they probably share a good amount of sordid fantasies on said consultant, besides… "Tess!"

The girls' cry awakens her enough to force Lisbon to, finally, find the force to move from her spot. Still, she does it while blushing (and biting her lips) and with a bit of reluctance. She isn't going to kid herself: she is attracted by the man, she is probably even in love with him, and she'd rather prefer staying there with him, staring at Patrick Jane's green/blue eyes than with her sisters in law.

"Teresa, are you sure you are not forgetting something?" As he calls her (and she stops to turn back to look at the dreamy man), Lisbon is quite sure he is lifting his eyebrows at her. She knows the man too well, after so many years at his side- too many years, probably, and even if she knows he is just thinking about keeping the cover and making her family happy while making them believe she is happy with him, she still can't believe he could dare to order her to kiss him. She is going to hisses it at him with clenching teeth when, as always, he foresees her own thoughts, throwing her purse right at her face, grinning, yes, but not too amused. There's a shadow of fear, sadness and doubt on his gentle and divine features. "Are you sure you'll not need this?"

"Silly me, I wonder where my head was…" she smiles, blushing again a little, giggling a little. Jane can't help but look at her, and now, now he is amused, now he is happy, now, seeing her smiling at him this way, naturally, sincerely, he can't help but knowing he wasn't wrong, she has feelings for him, there's hope for them because there's hope she'll overcome the obstacles she has put herself between them. He can't help but smile in return, he can't help but interlace their fingers, he can't help but kiss her, softly and quickly, the tip of his tongue teasing her lips, and Teresa can't help but throwing her arms around his neck, can't help but kissing him, with hesitation, with all the passion her knows she possesses, she can't help but smile in the kiss, forgetting everything and everyone until they part, looking into each other's eyes in complete silence, a blissful and marvelous silence, full of meanings, yet again broken but the (now unwanted) group of women.

"C'mon Pat! Why don't you stay and have a little drink with us?" This time it is Claire calling for them (him), but it's clear from the giggles and the whispered statements that her idea is well approved by all the invited parties- yet again, Patrick Jane has hit, leaving a long line of broken hearts behind him (and Lisbon, even knowing she may be the next, she still hopes, begs, for not having to see, to live it). "C'mon Pat, you know you want to!"

"Well, my beautiful ladies, even if I'd be glad to get a rare glimpse into such a timeless female ritual, I think I'll just leave, but I can assure you, wherever I'll be, I'll drink to the husbands who've won you, the losers who've lost you, and the lucky bastards who've yet to meet you!" saying so, giving a last quick kiss to Teresa, so quick she doesn't even have time to answer to the "peck", he disappears once again inside the car while she, quite reluctantly and embarrassed, as red as never before and out of breath, joins the other girls, who keep giggling and smiling maliciously at her.

"I can't believe you haven't done indecent things with that man yet…" Claire tells her looking at the car moving away, not even trying to make eye-contact with Lisbon, well aware that her current thoughts wouldn't exactly meet her approval. "I mean, if I wasn't engaged and you weren't my best friend, I'd already make a way more than just a move on that… wonderful, amazing, great and hot specimen…." She ends the sentence moving her hands in direction of the now long gone car, for emphasis, like she could actually touch it (and, therefore, the man inside it).

"No, seriously, you should send God a bottle of wine, or a quiche or something…" Carol goes on, a hand on her heart, but smiling and laughing. If Teresa didn't know any better, she'd say her sister in law (who, like Linda, is like a real sister to her, only female surrounded by males since she was 12) could already be drunk…

"You know Tess, you're just our sister in law, and you aren't even Claire's sister in law yet, but, seriously, girl, we love you as you were our sister" There's a small smile on Linda's lips as she says so, guiding Teresa inside the restaurant pushing her for the shoulders, but, overall, there's sincerity and a shadow of… is it worry about her love life what she is detecting? "So, any trouble you have, you know you can, no, you have to share it with us."

Yes, they are definitely worried about her, all the three of them, she realizes as, once inside, they force her on a bar stroll – in front of few already awaiting drinks - facing the dark haired agent at crossed arms. Or they are getting too good at acting, or being around Patrick is talking away her attention so much she doesn't even register what's going on around her.

"Tess, c'mon, you gave me your blessing to go after Tommy when we met two years ago, and when he asked me to go public you told me to stop worrying about what people were going to say because of the age difference. You gave ma advice, like you've always done since we were kids. "Claire explains, a bit sad, putting a hand on her best friend's arm to reassure Teresa of her presence and her availability to talk and share problems "Now let me help you."

"Now let us help you, Tess" Carol says, going on the other side, while Linda takes residence on the agent's shoulders. "You are worried and tense, and the same goes for Patrick. What's going on? Did you fight? Are you breaking up?"

"Girls, everything's all right, I swear" she says, trying to put on her best poker face.

"Tess, we know something's wrong with you, and you know we aren't going to give up until you'll tell us what it is, so I'd suggest stopping wasting any time and going strictly to the point" Typical Linda, the wife of the marine, always going directly to the point with not too many words…

Closing her eyes, Teresa sighs, gripping the still full glass in her hands, and gives up. She doesn't want to fight them, and she is sick and tired of fighting this battle with herself. "It's just that… I've always been… or at least tended to try to be… the boss around_ Jane_" she explains them, telling just a small part of the story. "I've always been just strictly on the book Lisbon around him, and now… I'm not even sure what he thinks about _Teresa_ and if I should tell him more about the girl behind the shield... we just… it's not that we don't talk, but… we've always been more… a "live the moment" kind of people, and… I'm not sure I should_ tell-tell _him, you know? He knows the basics of my life, and vice versa, and we've been more than ok with that until now, but, I don't know…"

"Three months after we started dating" Linda suddenly says at her back, serious, but dreamy. "I told James everything there was to know about me three months into our relationship, when I realized I was in love with him. We had spent the night cuddling on the couch in a comfortable silence, and then, in the middle of the night, I woke up and felt the need to tell him everything."

"I don't think I told everything there was to know to Tommy until we found out about the baby…"

"There are things Marcus doesn't know of me yet, after so many years together… I told him, marriage is a trip at discovery of us and of the other half of our apple. I want you to find out about me slowly, so that everyday will be a discovery, like a new beginning. Besides, a girl needs some mystery if she wants to keep her guy!"

"Yeah, well, you forget that Marcus would probably still want you even if you were a serial killer…" Linda laughs as the other acquired Lisbon pouts a little.

"Could we please avoid talking about serial killers? I'd rather prefer leaving the work at work…" she isn't laughing as she says so. There is, instead, a sad smile in Teresa's full red lips. She really doesn't want to think about killers right now, because… it just all comes back to Jane, to Patrick, and it makes everything so much more difficult.

"Tess, stop worrying about Patrick. Everybody can see that he is crazy for you" Claire gently says, again comforting her friend with a gentle squeeze of her hand.

"Claire's right" Linda goes on, still smiling as well, sighing content. "Whenever he looks at you, he has that…that expression…."

"He has that expression that_ screams _that he can't live without you any longer, that you are the centre of his whole world… just like your brothers do with us."

A bloom of hope blossoms into Teresa's heart. She knows that the girl may say that just because Patrick is the actor that he is, but, after all, at the park, they were alone, and his actions have been quite eloquent in that department, so, maybe, just maybe, he wants and loves her as much she does with him. "Thank you, girls; I really needed that!" Smiling and drinking her glass, Teresa decides to put aside all her insecurities, her fears and her past. She isn't going to allow them to stop her from reaching her well deserved happiness… and she knows too well that she has never been as happy as in the last few days, with Patrick.

She has taken her decision: as soon as she'll reach home, she'll tell him everything, and the hell with everything and everyone. If he really loves her as he seems to do, he'll understand; he'll meet her halfway. He'll be hers like she has been his from the day one, even if in her heart only.

_Meanwhile, somewhere else_

Jane doesn't know if the women will really have a wild party, but, classier, that's for sure. James and Marcus have chosen a third degree bar, that smells of bad and cheap beer and cigarettes (and he doesn't even wants to describe the smell of the bathroom, if that thing may be qualified as a bathroom, that it is) to drink to Tommy's incoming new life.

Looking at the man sitting at his side, though, he quite understands why they have done such, and while he is happy with it, and with being just the four of them. Tommy's smile may say many things, but, mostly, it tells that the boy is still the one raised by his beloved and loving sister, simple at heart, who does what he does because he loves to and not because of money and fame. (He'd not be surprised if, when the baby will arrive, the baby, he'd announced his retirement to be a stay at home dad. Hell, he'd do that, if he'd be the father of Teresa's baby). His team-mates probably were thinking of organizing something huge, somewhere extremely expensive, with strippers coming out from cakes. It's something his old self knew too well, was addicted and used to. But he has changed. He is no longer that man, he is not nay longer the man she met 7 years ago, he isn't any longer the man she knew until a couple of years ago. He can't believe that a simple dance had changed things so much for the both of them…

"My so-called friends think I should be scared that I'm going to _potentially_ live the rest of my life with the same woman." Tommy explains, showing Patrick that one again he got it right. "I don't even bother trying to explain that I'm going to spend the rest of my life with Claire, point. They don't understand that I'm not scared, but…sweet Lord" he says, running his hands through his hairs "Happy doesn't even start to cover it!" Patrick nods. He knows the feeling. He felt it once before, when he wasn't even able to understand it, to treasure it as he should have, and he feels it now, again, with Teresa.

"Oh, you don't have to explain it to our man here, T, he knows it too well!" James' voice hits them loud and clear, as the man and his brother abandon the pull game to join the others two at the bar. "You two have the same expression whenever you look at Claire or Teresa…."

"Pat, may man, let me tell you something: you are in our sister's total control. And you aren't even engaged yet."

"Meh, I'm working on it, Marcus, but your sister is quite… reserved in the relationship department. I had to work almost seven years to convince her to have dinner with me, I don't know what I'll have to do in order to convince her to actually marry me" it should be a joke at the Lisbon's expense, but he realizes as he says the words, it's not. He'd like to reach that stage with her, not now, of course, because there are too many issues between them (Red John, the job, Red John, always and ever Red John…) but he hopes that, once they'll have solved them, he'll be able to act on it, to reach that stage and be hers for the rest of their lives.

Of course, he doesn't even dare to try to think of not acting on his recently re-awakened feelings for the dark haired beauty. Once felt Teresa in his arms, soft, alive, warm, and tasted her on his lips, sweet and soft like strawberries, there's no way he'll be able to keep every emotion bottled up.

"If you want my advice with Tess, and since I'm her favorite I know my sis very, very well, you have a problem, goes with it. Talk with her, she loves when people talk with her, and it's in her nature to help people out…" Tommy explains, showing that he is that kind of men that, once drunk, even if slightly (he understands that the Lisbon siblings don't do alcohol, with the result that they barely tolerate a couple of drinks, soft even) "If she is the one with the problem, though, don't pressure her. Ask her, just once, and look at her in the eyes, even when she fights eye-contact. She'll eventually come around and tell you every single damn thing that she is worried about… eventually." As he says so, three hands, one for each brother, pats him on the back, all silently telling him the same thing: threat her well, don't hurt her feelings.

He just nods, smiling, secure. He knows he'll never so it, also because, a long time ago, he promised her this. And he always keeps his promises.

_Lisbon's residence, hours later_

It's almost midnight when the limo Claire rented to bring them from the party to each residence parks in front of the house. The four women, not so silently, walk inside the house, their steps made louder by the state of drunk of 3 of them. Once entered, Claire, Linda, and Carol try to run to their rooms, and collapse immediately, still dressed, on the beds- better yet, in the case of Carol and Linda, on their husbands, long gone like their wives will soon be. Claire will be sorry to find a cold and empty bed to welcome her, but Tommy is Tommy, and he has been adamant about respecting at least a couple of traditions – not sleeping under the same roof as the bride the night before the wedding being one of them.

Teresa shakes her head in disbelief, smiling quite happy, thinking about them and how they look. Her sisters in law have always managed to bring fun in her life, as much as Jane does. Jane…. she smiles, a bit malicious, trying to find the courage deep within her: the alcohol can't do that, she just had a glass of champagne, and the rest of the evening and night non alcoholic beverages, so she is barely a bit exited. She takes a big breath as she enters into the room, on top-toes.

"Teresa, you ok?" She doesn't know if smiling, crying or kissing him senseless. Even in the complete darkness, not only Jane feels her presence, but he feels her, her inner emotions, her turmoil… he knows her, he knows everything there is to know about her. There's no need to think he doesn't know of her feelings for him as well. Maybe, just maybe, he isn't doing anything about it because she hasn't been willingly to share them with him until now, so, maybe, just maybe, if she'll tell him, he'll do something, he'll say something, he'll clear this thing between the two of them. But telling him right now isn't going to work, it's not enough, it will never be enough. She has fought too much to find the courage to act on her feelings, and she isn't going to give herself the chance of backing up. So, she does what she has carefully, but still with instinct, planned in her mind for the whole evening….

She picks his simple, but yet extremely well-made and nice, white shirt and throws it at the man, who's currently under the cover of "their" bed with hands crossed behind his head. Giving her an odd look in the dark, he slowly, and a bit unsure, accepts the piece of clothing, putting it on, on the small and simple (but very welcome by the suddenly outrageously brave and seductive woman) short black boxer. He doesn't talk as he puts it on letting it open. He doesn't talk as Lisbon, in complete silence, but smiling radiant, sure of her as he has never seen her before, leads him outside the house, walking on their tip-toes hand in hand. He doesn't talk when she makes him enter in Richard's play-house, a place well kept, clean and in perfect order and nice, even if her son surely stopped to use it years prior (Jane suspects, obviously being right, that the men use it for poker nights and the women to gossip about the more or less and have a nice and quiet drink between grown-ups once in a while). He doesn't talk, just looks at her with total adoration, when she strips him of his shirt and boxers and "forces" him to rest on the bed, pushing him on the mattress with her warm and expert hands on his (toned and tanned and sexy) chest. He doesn't talk when, his head resting on the pillows, his weight on his forearms, he studies with admiration and a lazy smile her completely bare in front of him, long, torturous minutes later, when she is done stripping of her chocolate knew length dress and ivory lace and lacy romantic lingerie. He doesn't talk when, finally, she joins him on the bed, their limbs interlaced in a matter of seconds as they start to kiss like for life. He doesn't talk when he reverses the position, forcing Teresa on her back…

He doesn't talk when, as they made love, their bodies melt into each other, fitting like they were meant to be. He just devours her, allowing himself to melt into the petite yet perfect body that belongs to_ his _Teresa. He expresses all his love and devotion and affection to her with his body, putting her first, thinking about the woman and her pleasure instead of the fact that he has been for 8 years without having sex…

He just hopes that come morning she'll understand that he is hers and hers only, that she has marked his very being, his soul, just like he has marked the tender skin of her belly with his teeth and his lips and his touches, just like she has marked his back with her nails. He just hopes he'll understand he made it out of love and not compassion and mere physical need, that it hasn't been a one night stand for him, and that he is in for the long run_________. _


	10. The Day Of The Wedding

**A/n: **Oh, yes, the damn disclaimer: seriosuly, do we really have to do it? Because, Jeez, if I'd own them, I'd not be here writing it, I'd be the writeer of a TV Shows and, well, we'd have the LIsbon romance for real...meanwhile, I just **_"write, draw, create, dream, hope and believe in Bruno, waiting for him to be blessed bu the light of reason..." _**(No, this discalimer isn't mine, it belongs to one fo the girls who wite Mentalist fiction on the italian site efpfiction, but don't tell me many of you don't share this vision...). Also, I don't own none of the aforementioned titles that inspired this thing- the movie "the wedding date", or the books "Asking for trouble" and "3 times the bridesmaid"... For PetitJ, my "muse", you rock, girl, and I hope you'll like it, even if it is tunring more "mature" (bot not M, relax people) than what I usaully do.

A/N: thanks a lot to all the people who reviewed, in case I didn't come to you personally with a PM, and to all the people who alerted and favorited me, you all rocks, and all this work, this is just for you amazing people out there...you make my day!

A/N3- just the epilogue left after this one!

* * *

When she awakens the next morning, she does such with the sweetest (and sexiest) sensation of the world. It's with a pair of warm, affectionate and busy lips on the juncture of her neck and shoulders that Teresa Lisbon opens her eyes to – Patrick Jane's lips on her neck busy planting wet open-mouth kisses and tenderly sucking the salty skin there. She turns in his arms, coming face to face yet again to the vision that's _his chest _(the man should seriously be in jail. He is so damn good looking and sexy and charming that's quite surely illegal). She gulps few times, without making eye-contact with her consultant, and, with eyes wide-open, without even registering the so agonized scent of fresh coffee, she comes to a sudden, and she isn't sure it's so welcome, realization.

She has spent the whole damn night having sex, with Patrick Jane, trying ever position and every state of mind. They've been sweet, they've been wild, they've been tender, they've loved and loving. AND, to add injury to the already injured, he is _still_ lovely with her, with his kisses, his caresses on the (scratched) skin of her (bare) abdomen, and his (ring-less) left running through her dark locks, and, even worst (or maybe, just maybe, better) his whispered words, a confession started long before she opened her eyes, when she was already awake but wasn't showing it yet – even if, with Jane being Jane, she knows he was well aware of this simple fact. _Do you know how much in love I am with you? I've wanted this for so long, but I've never even dared of dreaming of it really happening. Do you think I'm a bad man, that I'm selfish because I kind of regret that you're on the pill so there's no way I've marked you as mine with my child? You can't imagine the effect you have on me. I'd never let it go of you. I don't want this moment to pass. Can we stay here, in this playhouse, embracing, for the rest of our lives? I want to commit this vision to my palace of memory. Love me. You're mine and I'm yours. I'd go crazy if I'd lost you. Don't leave me. I'll do my best to always be there for you. Even if there majority of times it's the other way around, I'm always going to save you. If I were dying, I'd call you and you only. You make me regret the person I once was and the person I am, and you make me feel the need to be a better man. I know I'll never be really worth you…_

"And here we are, with the persona of Agent Lisbon resurfacing, stealing the thunder to my beautiful Aurora…" he smirks on her skin as he says so, smiling and laughing, but groaning as well, feeling the shift in the beautiful woman naked in his arms as soon as she heard his whispered words of love. He knows some of them he has already told her, that he has said way more than once since they know each other, but they have suddenly a brand new meaning. Or maybe, they meant this all along, but he wasn't ready to admit this simple but yet incredible and astonishing fact to anyone, mostly himself, scared and still feeling too guilty at the time.

"What?" she asks him, standing still, but a bit more relaxed. At least his "trick" is working, if not totally. She was already making in her mind reasons to end this, whatever it may be, and his "quote" is giving him time to convince her, in whatever way it takes, to change her mind. AND she is finally looking at him in the eyes, with those big green orbs, with that questioning gaze, with those lifted eyebrows…

"Ehm, Aurora? You know, Sleeping Beauty? You were asleep, Aurora, i.e. Sleeping Beauty was asleep, so, I thought…" he pauses a little, looking at her amused, grinning. "Woman, I know you raised 3 boys, but, seriously? You don't know one of the most famous fairytale of human history?"

"What happened last night?" she suddenly asks him, interrupting his reasoning, whatever it was.

"What?" he asks her; he is citing Lisbon in her earlier statement, both in word and in expression. Did she just ask what he fears she asked? Does it mean she doesn't remember; does it mean that she wasn't herself last night? _Oh, Lord, what have I done? I allowed her to seduce me and bring me to her… well, her nephew's bed, and she wasn't aware of what she was doing, she wasn't herself?_

"I asked you…."

"I know what you asked me, Lisbon! My "what" was supposed to be rhetorical! You should know, what it means, since you are the one always using rhetorical questions with me!" if it wasn't so damn embarrassing, they'd laugh right now, also because out of his element, uneasy and unsure Jane is always quite the spectacle. "Just…you weren't drunk or high, right? Please, just… you were yourself, right? Tell me you were yourself, Lisbon…" He _begs_. She is trying to resist the urge to giggle, because, Patrick Jane begging her? He never begs, like he never says he is sorry (ok, he did, but just once, and because Hightower was present), so, this is… rare, rare and exquisite. 

Then, she remembers – i.e. accepts and recognizes as real- what she _did _and what they both did, _together. _Reality hits as she closes her eyes shout, gulping yet again. "It happened for real" she whispers, not a question but a statement.

"You remember?" he asks, with a mix of panic, anxiety and happiness, trying to keep eye-contact (even if it's quite hard, since she is keeping her eyes closed and away from him). She just nods. "Oh, thanks lord. I was scared you weren't remembering. Or, worst, you thought I hypnotized you. You know I'd never hypnotize you, right? Well, I did it once, but just because you asked me to, and besides, I was just trying to help you out, because…"

"**Jane!" **she screams, finally silencing him once and for all. Now she has just understood that bubbling Jane unnerves her more than absolutely sure of himself Jane does. "I was kind of hoping it had been all a dream, us having sex in my nephew's playhouse for the whole night… I can't believe that… I just, I swear, I don't know what Chicago is doing to me. Maybe it's because I'm around so many couples, and…"

"I made love to you, _Teresa_" He rectifies, angry and almost hissing, lifting her chin up with a finger so that they could have eye-contact. She has never seen his eyes so dark before, has never him so serious, so sure, not even when Red John was concerned. This is a brand new side of Jane she has never met before. She isn't the only one affected by Chicago and being around so many couples, it seems. "I made love to you because this is what I feel for you, _love, _and don't you dare to even try to…"

"I know you do, but how long you will be able to love me?" she asks, serious, but with tears in her eyes that scream she is scared by this.

"I don't care about what you believe of you don't believe, it still remains that I am in love with you, and… "He pauses, his brain finally catching up with her words. "Hang on one sec, what? You said you believe me?"

"I know you do love me, to a certain level, and we both know I love you as well, but my question is how long you are willing to love me? One week, two months, a year… just tell me? Tell me how long we will go on before another Red John case, before you'll close yourself up again, isolate yourself from me yet again, before you'll screw up so much I'll eventually lose my job, ending up resenting you… just, tell me, will you? So, when you'll break my heart, I'll be ready to face it and I'll not hate you that much!" She asks him, quite mad, unsure if with the man standing speechless in front of her or herself. Quickly putting the dress back on, and that only so much she needs to rush it, she leaves the room, with tears in the eyes. Once at the door, though, she stops, and looks again at Jane, who's still sitting on the edge of the bed, unable to think or speak or move, his eyes focused on his feet. "I think you should leave. I… I clearly did a mistake inviting you here, and… few days apart will do us marvels, it will help to clear our minds and… forget everything."

But he doesn't want to. He doesn't want to see Lisbon walking away from what they may have just like she is walking away from him right now. He is going to let her breath, right about now, but, as soon as he'll have the chance, and he is quite sure he knows when he'll have it, since he has already plotted it in his mind… this time he'll win her over, once and for all, and if he'll not, he'll walk away from her, once and for all. He couldn't live that close to Lisbon without having her, not after having tasted her, after having felt her in his arms. It'd be madness, it'd be death, it'd be his end, and he doesn't want to, not when he can live to just make her happy.

Merely two hours after the "argument" with Patrick, Teresa finds herself sitting in a small room inside the sacristy of the small chapel where Claire is going to get married to Tommy. She and the other girls are finishing getting ready, or at least the other Lisbon women are doing so. Linda and Carol are already done with themselves, and are currently helping Claire with the last details. She wants everything to be perfect, and if the way her imperial ivory dress and the veil with the small pearls tiara are of any indication, perfect it will be.

"So, you have the something new… the dress…" Carol starts, checking her soon to be sister in law for the last time. "The tiara belonged to your grandmother, so it's your something old; the garter is blue… it misses only the something borrowed…."

"Oh, ehy, hang on one sec, I got it!" smiling falsely, Teresa leaves the chair where she has been sat for what seems hours, always putting back in place the knee-length emerald green dress Claire has chosen for her and her only – Linda and Carol's ones are much more "classical", definitely bridesmaid dress, but Claire didn't feel like forcing her best friend to put on such a horrible thing, also because a man was involved. "I don't think mum would mind if I'll not wear it for one day." As she puts the cross necklace on Claire's ivory and long neck, the pregnant woman starts to cry, and immediately she turns in Teresa's arms to embrace her long time friend. Knowing Teresa as long as she does, she is well aware of the fact that the dark haired cop put the necklace, and heirloom, on the same day her mother passed away, and that she has never, ever took it off, not even once. It kind of breaks her heart.

"Oh, Tess… that's the sweetest thing someone has ever done for me… you'll always be my best friend forever!" she says, between tears, cupping the cop's face with her palms and keeping eye-contact with her. It doesn't take her long to notice the shadows, the sufferance and the sadness there. "Tess… are you all right, honey?"

As she says so, both Linda and Carol are immediately at her side, both facing Teresa, both studying her worried and both putting a secure and friendly arm on her naked shoulder.

"You don't look good. What's wrong?" Carol inquires, looking more and more worried.

"Tess, we know something's wrong with you. Either you tell us, or we'll third degree you until we'll find it out. The choice is up to you." Linda goes on, on Teresa's other side.

And that's when it hits her. She can't do it any longer. She can't keep lying to them, not to her family, not to her friends. She knows that what she did was wrong. Ok, she brought Patrick with the best intentions, but still, they had, always had the best intentions as well. The just wanted to see her happy, because they care about her, because they love her, and how she repays them? By lying, that's how. What a great relative, and such an amazing friend…

"Girls, I have to confess you something… it's about Patrick and me…" she starts, between sobs, almost strangling the flowers in her hands.

"You did it! I knew you had your wicked way with the man as soon as I saw you leaving the playhouse this morning! As soon as we are out of the church, I want all the sordid details! Oh, lord, I can't wait to hear all about him… he is so handsome and sweet, I bet it has been…magical…." Claire ends looking dreamy, breathing in out and sighing a little. Then, she remembers another little particular. "Wait… where's Patrick? I didn't see him this morning!"

Lisbon looks at her feet, fighting back the need and the urge to cry. Still, tears leave her smoky eyes, and the words leave her dark red and soft lips between sobs. "I'm in love with Patrick"

"But… Tess, it's just so great! He is just what you need… you have spent so much time worried about the others, us, and the people you meet at work… it was right about time you decided to do something for yourself!" Linda squirms, embracing her. Teresa doesn't reciprocate, but forces her sister in law and friend to let it go of her, ashamed of the whole thing.

"It's not great, not at all." she says, feeling their worried eyes on her. They are so worried, and they care so much about her… she simply can't keep lying to them any longer. "Patrick and I, we are not into a relationship. We're simply coworkers." Three pairs of eyes and three mouths get wide open in the very same instant, silently urging her to move on. "Claire, you were so happy for the wedding, and you wanted for me to be the maid of honor… and all of you… you kept worrying about me because I was the last single standing, and I was sick and tired of being the last single standing. I didn't want to be the third wheel any longer. I didn't want to have to deal with the losers you always managed to make me end up with, so… I asked Patrick to pretend to be my boyfriend."

Linda looks at the other two, then at Teresa, lifted eyebrows, studying her, and reflecting and analyzing her. Teresa feels a lot like one of her students right now. "It's a complete nonsense. You and Patrick are perfect together, and he looks at you in the way just a man in love looks at his woman, and when you are around him you're simply… radiant. It can't be an act!"

"There's something more. I can see there is something more, her eyes are telling me there's something more" Claire interrupts, looking at Linda and Carol and then, worried, at Teresa. It's not exactly how she was picturing her wedding day…. "There's something more, isn't it?"

"Patrick… Jane… he is my team's consultant, of that much you are already aware. What you don't know is that… Jane joined the CBI after Red John, a serial killer, murdered his wife and daughter to make him pay for having mocked him on some talk show. Jane… Patrick… swore to find and make him pay… by killing him. He… it's been eight years, and Jane… I know he'll never stop hunting him down, and, he'll eventually chose him over me, so no big deal." She pauses, biting her own lips. "I asked him to come here with me, because… well, I thought he had no feelings for me, but… he does, and… and I do as well… but I'm not sure…if he'll be able to get rid of this damn addiction he has for vengeance… and…."

"Well, maybe he is ready to really, really move on. He seems really in love with you…." Linda tells her, sweetly, but unsure of the words to say, for many reasons. She feels sorry for this poor man, and she feels bad for what she and the girls have put Teresa through, even if they didn't mean it at all. "Tess, we're not mad, really."

"Linda's right, honey" Claire goes on, embracing yet again her best friend. "Being single isn't easy when you have people like us and your brothers around you, but you have a particular line of work that doesn't make relationships exactly easy either. We should have tried to stay out of your way."

"Claire's right, we all just want you to be happy, and this Patrick guy seems terribly good at it." Linda adds, remarking her statement with a malicious look, gaining, as answer, a blushing Teresa. "And, believe us when we tell you he is in love with you as well."

"It's not about Patrick not being in love with me I'm scared of, I'm scared he'll not love me to let it go of Red John, that's all. I can't start anything with him knowing that he could probably end up dead or in jail leaving me broken hearted and lone yet again" she smiles, taking in the sight of flowers in her hands and hearing in the distance the sound of the notes calling for them. "Just… I'll deal with him once we will be back to Sacramento, now it's your wedding day" she says, crying, trying to make them seem tears of happiness, while, deep down, she is trying to find an escape from the whole Patrick Jane debacle. "Now it's time for me to say all the right things and smile, while you live your perfect day!"

Saying so, she leaves the room, followed by Linda and Carol and, last, Claire. "Little" James, in charge of the wedding rings, walks in front of them with his miniature of smoking; at his back, the maid of honor, Teresa, at the arm of Robert, Tommy's agent and best man, and then James (in high uniform) with Linda and Marcus with Carol. The line is closed by Claire and her father, Richard, a man of 72, extremely happy for his little girl, who's not so little any longer.

Sitting in the centre of the chapel, Jane, meanwhile, looks at Teresa, walking towards the aisle in that amazing emerald dress, knee length with a heart-shaped v-line… and _their emeralds. _He can't help but hoping it's a good sign that she decided to wear them, even if, technically speaking, she isn't supposed to know he is still there differently from her brothers. Tommy, aka the one who loves him the most in a totally platonic way, has been immediately informed of his plan to get back Teresa, and has shared it with the other two. Apparently, they really think he is a goner for "little" Teresa"). According to her orders, he is supposed to be on a flight for California, and not looking at her walking towards an aisle…

Oh, the things that the word "Teresa" does to him (and his restless fantasy when all things Lisbon are concerned) when used with the line "walking towards the aisle"… he is probably looking like a complete idiot right now (but, as he once said to someone, "the line between looking sexy, in love and stupid is a fine one") dreaming about Teresa walking towards the aisle, with him waiting for her. He is wearing one of his dark and elegant suits, she is wearing a red dress (white at a wedding is as sophomoric as seducing a woman over a meal), they are barefoot on the sands of the beach in front of the resort where they are getting married. She is walking at Tommy's side; Claire is her bridesmaid and is already there at the altar while he has chosen Cho as his best man. Even Danny is present.

He is so taken from his dream, from the urge to make it real, to see it getting real, he almost misses his "call", the line he is supposed to answer to in order to get her back- or at least, he hopes so.

"If anyone knows a reason because this couple couldn't be joined in the holy bound of marriage, speak now, or remain in silence forever." Suddenly, even if he hasn't heard all the words of the minister, Jane hears him. Maybe it's because it's the only part he is interested in. Scared as never before (mostly of what bride and maid of honor will do to him – the groom kind of is awaiting for this moment.) he lifts, among the silent crowd, his right hand, and the silence is broken. There isn't so many people at the wedding, also because Claire and Tommy are already planning another ceremony, on the first anniversary, where everyone who's everyone on both their worlds will be present (being rich and famous, and being a superstar baseball player and a superstar anchorwoman of a sport network, you're kind of contractually obligated to have such ceremonies, if you want to keep the contacts.) but the crowd is suddenly filled by whispered and not so whispered words, questions about who's the handsome and strange and until then in silence blonde stranger who dared to break the universally known rule that the question just made is strictly rhetorical, and whom he may be there for. He is a lover of the bride, or of the groom, maybe? Is some scandal going to happen?

"Yes, son?" the minister asks, a bit uneasy. In 30 years, that's actually the first time someone dares to answer his question- this question, at least...

Lisbon looks at him with crossed arms- how she can do it with a bouquet of flowers in her hands, it's a mystery to him, but she still manages to pose in such a way. She'd normally be half irritated and half scared by his raised hand, because a Jane looking for attention means trouble waiting for happen and paperwork for her to fill and excuses to say; for a moment, he rethinks his intentions, quite sure that she'll not appreciate the effort and that the woman's girlfriends will hate him with a passion for having "crashed" the wedding, so, gulping, he comes back to sit at his place.

"Ehm, sorry, don't think anything about me, just, move on like nothing happened, guess I just changed my mind" but then, his eyes ends up on the three males at the altar, looking at him like asking what he thinks he is doing, backing up this way, and the Marine's looks seems to say, alone, that Patrick Jane, if he'll not talk and make it better, will just last few more hours.

Self preservation wins, so, his eyes shifting from the (otherwise soon to be killers) Lisbon brothers to Teresa, he stands again, talking this time louder, almost shouting clearing his throat to reclaim the attention he has already lost in the few instants he has been sat.

"Actually, I just changed my mind yet again. I think I'll say a couple of words, if you don't mind. Well, not that I care about what you think I should do, because I have few things to say, so I'll say them, whatever you like it or not." He says, grinning, but completely sure of himself. Of course, on the outside, he still tries to be the old, usual Patrick Jane, but everyone who got to meet him even only for few minutes can see that he isn't doing such a great work of performing. The mask is almost completely gone, just like he needs it to be.

"So, tell me, why do you think they shouldn't get married?" The minister says, clenching his fists and his teeth, almost hissing, clearly annoyed with the blonde strangers who dared to interrupt the ceremony not once but twice, and who's making him lose his precious time- he has a funeral in less than an hour ad an half, after all.

Jane is again shifting position every few seconds, first on his feet than sat; he looks around nervously, unable to answer the minister. He'd even back up, he thinks, but then… then, his eyes lock with Lisbon's, and he can't do it any longer. She is looking at him, with that marvelous and so damn sexy fire in her eyes… he has always loved seen that fire, her eyes so big and shining, that's why he simply adores driving her mad, to mess with her, to drive her mad, just like now. She is passion made flesh, always, because she puts passion in everything she does. She puts passion in her fights with him. She puts passion in her work. She puts passion in the way she looks after her family- surrogated, like the team or her sisters in law, and she puts passion in the way she loved him, in the way she still loves him, in the way he knows she can love him. He has been burned by the fire that's Teresa Lisbon, and he isn't going to give it up.

"Oh, no, you don't have to worry, it's nothing like that. Actually, I'm trying to win over the maid of honor. I'm her boyfriend, kind of, mostly I'm her coworker; I'm a consultant to be more accurate. We've been together, like, in _that way,_ just once, last night, but we've been friends and coworkers for a long, long time so it's not like we've rushed into things by sleeping together after… after not having dated for real not even once. But we did spend time alone, I mean, together alone, in the last few years, we did, really. It was 99% of the times work related, but we still did it, so…" He explains, or at least tries to, looking around at the scandalized expressions of the followers and at the minister getting paler and paler; standing, he leaves his spot, moving to stand at the centre of the chapel, looking at her, who's keeping the bouquet of flowers with such a strength that Jane is quite sure she is thinking about strangling him. "C'mon, don't look at me this way; it's not like any of you actually waited for marriage in order to have sex! I mean, look at the bride, she is pregnant! And besides, we didn't have sex last night, but we made love! I know the technically for the standards of _your cult_" he adds looking at the minister, while Lisbon is on the verge of a (small) nervous breakdown, and when she'll jump on him it will be to kill the man (on holy land nevertheless) and not to kiss him senseless. "Mating is acceptable only when concerned reproduction of the species and technically speaking Teresa is on the pill so there are the 99.9% of chances she didn't get pregnant last night, but it still remains the fact that whatever we did last night was made out of love and not of lust! And, Teresa, you should have understood it, because you know that I can control my body, but I'm completely incapable of controlling my own feelings!"

He can barely hear a hissed "Patrick Jane you are so dead" whispered between clenched teeth and closed eyes. And her hands… she is definitely thinking about killing him for real. Claire is barely holding back the tears, and Tommy, instead, is laughing behind his teeth (and doesn't even hide it that well). The other Lisbon's are simply staring at him with rage (the girls) or amusement (Teresa's siblings). The minister keeps praying Lord and has already taken the holy water in his hands, ready to exorcise the man who dares to speak such words and blasphemy in his church. The rest of the guests keep talking or staring at him, who's quickly walking in direction of Teresa and stops in front of her, holding her gaze, her hands, still holding the flowers and killing them (his metaphorical throat) with her fingers. "Lisbon… Teresa… I know you know I am in love with you… and I know you love me back. And I know you are scared I'm not in love with you enough to let it go, to be 100% serious about us… and…I'm tired of fighting it… of fighting _us_, so, please, Teresa, please…just…"

"Jane… please…" she begs between tears at closed eyes. "You don't… you don't know what you are talking about. You want to be in love with me, but… but you are not and… and it's been so long since you were that you've probably forgot how you used to feel and you are just confused and…."

He shakes his head, almost laughing hysterically. "You think I could be confused or serious about _this? _Do you seriously think I'd removed my wedding ring like that if I wasn't serious?" as he says so, drops of water starts to incessantly hit him, and Jane, a bit furious, turns towards the source of the problem, the Minister, and sends him an extremely talkative look. "Would you stop throwing that holy water of yours at me? I'm a widower, for crying out loud, not some cheating monster, and I'm just telling the whole truth, on everything!" As, scared, the minister walks away, Jane turns back in direction of Lisbon, who's trying to hide behind her hands, hoping that the soil will shatter in two and takes her in, just in order to avoid further humiliation and embarrassment for the blonde's fault. "Anyway, Teresa, as I was saying before being so rudely interrupted…. I'm sure of my feelings for you. I know I love you, and… Teresa, I love you enough to accept putting you in harm's way, taking you in with me. I love you enough to accept that I have to move on with my life. I love you enough to renounce dealing with _him _on my own. I love you enough to decide to leave _his destiny _into your hands, to accept whatever way you'll choose to deal with him."

"How can I know you'll not abandon me, how can I know that you'll not eventually betray me and what I stand for? How can I know you'll not eventually hurt me?" she asks, with insecurity, as she walks closer to him, until they are just a breath away from each other.

"Do you remember when we danced together? Because I do, I can't forget that moment, I'll never be able to" he says, smiling but sad at the same time, because he still doesn't know if he has convinced her to act on their reciprocated feelings. She nods with eyes wide open as he takes her hands in his own, rubbing gently with soft circles her knuckles. They are alone right now, even if there's a crowd around them and they are in complete and blissful silence even people all around them is whispering because of the "scandal" and the way this blonde, handsome and incredibly romantic man has just somehow crashed the wedding in order to get the love of his life. "While we were dancing… while I had you in my arms… for the first time in so long I felt… I felt at peace, Teresa. I felt… light and happy as I never felt before and… if Rigsby hadn't interrupted us, I'd told you these things already back then… that I didn't want that feeling to go away and…. When we lost our chance, and you started dating Walter, I was scared there was no way I could feel it again, but these last few days, I did… every time I'm with you, every time I hold you in my arms, every time I kiss you, I feel light, happy and free and alive… and I don't want this feeling to go away, never again, forever and ever, and I'll do whatever it takes in order to do so."

Without adding other words, Jane puts his right and her left, hand in hand, on his heart, and the other two hands on her one: as she smiles at him, with new tears but this time of happiness, laughing and smiling as they finally kiss, a sweet, romantic, deep and long kiss of real and pure love, their heartbeats are synchronized, their hearts beating as one.

"Ok, now that my girlfriend and I have cleared our issues, you can move on with the whole thing, father." he says, grinning, making Lisbon laughs on his shoulder, once they part- or at least, their lips do. "Father…Ehy, where did the minister go, did someone see where he went? Lisbon… why are they looking at me this way? C'mon, I can't have scared him that much! Ehy…I was just trying to be romantic!"

When she realizes that the minister is escaped and people are leaving, Claire jumps from her spot, and, in tears of frustration and under the influence of her hormones, she hits Jane on the nose with her bouquet. Teresa doesn't stop to laugh- even if that has been the most romantic things she has ever seen, he still deserved it for crashing her best friend's wedding. She knows that he'll forgive her; after all, she'll be the one nursing him back to health.


	11. The Epilogue

**A/n: **Oh, yes, the damn disclaimer: seriosuly, do we really have to do it? Because, Jeez, if I'd own them, I'd not be here writing it, I'd be the writeer of a TV Shows and, well, we'd have the LIsbon romance for real...meanwhile, I just **_"write, draw, create, dream, hope and believe in Bruno, waiting for him to be blessed bu the light of reason..." _**(No, this discalimer isn't mine, it belongs to one fo the girls who wite Mentalist fiction on the italian site efpfiction, but don't tell me many of you don't share this vision...). Also, I don't own none of the aforementioned titles that inspired this thing- the movie "the wedding date", or the books "Asking for trouble" and "3 times the bridesmaid"... For PetitJ, my "muse", you rock, girl, and I hope you'll like it, even if it is tunring more "mature" (bot not M, relax people) than what I usaully do.

A/N: thanks a lot to all the people who reviewed, in case I didn't come to you personally with a PM, and to all the people who alerted and favorited me, you all rocks, and all this work, this is just for you amazing people out there...you make my day!

* * *

Red John dies in a November stormy day, in an old abandoned warehouse in Sacramento, when a storm front is hitting hard the city. The day, Beltrham orders anyone of the CBI to stay out of this and wait for inevitable, and not daring to face the storm, one of worst of the last 100 years or so, a storm that, sooner than anyone thinks, turns into a tornado of an almost destructive level.

At first, Madeline Hightower follows her superior's orders, but only at first. As soon as the man gives her the back, she looks at the team who has had this case almost right from the start and almost the whole time and takes a big breath. She doesn't even have to think to what they are going to do, she knows that they'll do it, will she go along with the plan or not. The least she can do is helping them out in saving the woman she lead them, Senior Agent Teresa Lisbon, who, few hours before, has gone missing as soon as her home has been found empty of her presence… when she didn't show up at work and didn't answer to mobile nor her home phone, Jane went to look for her, and found the building empty.

That morning, the man has gone through a nightmare, seeing happening again what had happened more or less a decade before. That morning, when he has stopped in front of her bedroom, he has found on it a letter addressed to him, and once opened the door, he found a smiley face on the wall, red and clearly fresh… but there wasn't a body there, and the image wasn't made out of blood but paint. Even the message, addressed to Mr. Jane, telling him the killer didn't like his attention being on other topics (Lisbon) and that he hadn't learned his lesson. The novelty of all of this and the text of the message itself seemed to suggest she was still alive, and that Red John planned for it to be the endgame, for them or for him, he really didn't care as long as someone that night was going to lose. Obviously, he wasn't planning on being the one getting outsmarted, nor he was counting on the presence of an unknown factor (Hightower's presence and her skills with a gun).

Definitely, Red John wasn't planning on losing, on being the one ending up killed, but he still does. He dies with a bullet wound, while he tries to end once and for all the life of the most important thing in Patrick Jane's existence, the life of Senior Agent Teresa Lisbon, in the same way he ended up the one of Angela Ruskin-Jane years prior. He is somehow disappointed when he realizes that it's not Patrick Jane the one who kills him, but the biggest disappointment of them all is seeing, knowing, that Patrick Jane didn't join them for his last act. Patrick Jane is, in fact, sitting in the passenger seat of the SUV of the CBI, hitting the console with his already bloody fists, closed eyes, crying while doing something he hasn't done in quite a long time, praying. He keeps praying God for the life of the one he loves with all himself, the one he knows he can't live without, while firmly holding her golden cross in his closed fists.

He has decided, he has asked, to stay out of this. Revenge no longer belongs to him, he understands while he begs for his partners to come back to him with her, safe, while listening to the sound of the wind. Revenge no longer belongs to him, she is the one belonging to him now, as he belongs to her, and he is too scared that there's a chance he'll not able to resist to his blood thirst once he'll see, he'll face, the monster once again, and this time free, this time with a weapon in his hands.

So he just waits, hoping for her to come back to him safe and alive, hating himself because yet again he failed to protect what he swore to protect, what, who he loves with all his heart, body, soul and mind. They have done their best during the last year and half to hide it, to keep it a secret. They've never acted on their love when they were in the outside world, they've never whispered sweet nothing, and their touches have never lingered too much… for one year and half, for the outside world, they've been the same, the same old Senior Agent Teresa Lisbon and Consultant Patrick Jane. For a year and an half they've been careful, they thought they had been careful enough, but, obviously, they have been wrong. Because Red John has her, and the only thing he can do is waiting, and he hates it with all his being, he hates himself with all his being.

When, 23 long minutes later after the car has been parked, the longest time of his life, longer even than the months in the asylum, she jumps into the car and embraces him like for dear life, never wanting to let it go of her beloved, crying all the tears she has, a lifetime of tears, while he holds her, cries along with her, never stopping to kiss every inch of her face, never stopping to kiss away her tears, he thinks that's the happiest day of his life, but not because the monster is gone, but because she just come back to him, she come back to him when he thought she was lost once and for all, forever and ever….

It's May of the following year when he is proven wrong, and discovers what really happiness is.

He and Teresa have been together for two years now, even if it's only from six months that they are _officially_ together-together, that their story is no longer a secret. They still don't normally do public display of affection, if not on certain terms- Teresa's request, since he'd spent his whole life, day and night, holding her and kissing her and squeezing her hands. They never kiss or even hold hands while at work or on duty, but as soon as the day it's over and they are outside the CBI front door, she allows, or better yet_, forces_, Patrick to do the lingering touches, the (not so) stolen kisses and whisper the sweet nothing in her ear while they walk embraced towards the car, _his_ car, to come back to _their_ home, a place that, as soon at the nightmare ended, they took together, _brought _together to finally achieve that goal that, secretly, they both have wanted to achieve right from the first moment they saw each other, even if they lied to everybody, themselves first, about this, for longer that they would care to admit-definitely way too long.

On that day of the following year, Teresa had recently turned 39 from few weeks, while he is now in his 43rd year and they are slow-dancing to _their song _in a magnificent hall in a resort by the beach in a small town close to San Francisco, one they once visited about a case. That day of the following year, they are dancing on the notes of "More than Words" and are kissing each other like they should have that day many years before, hadn't Rigsby prevented it from happen…

The music is still playing when, quite reluctantly, Patrick parts from Teresa's lips. As he looks at her, with a small, sincere smile of understanding, he is not sure who's more disappointed by the lack of contact of their lips, if him or her. The woman seems to never have enough of him, and she doesn't care if they are still dancing and they are still embraced and she is practically pressed against him: she has admitted that Patrick Jane's kisses are a drug and too addictive for their own good a long time ago, and at that same time she decided that she was going to force the man to kiss her as much as possible from that day on.

"you know how much I hate to repeat myself, but I have to tell you once again, Teresa" he whispers as he allows a finger to dance on the blushing skin of her features from her nose to her lips, making her feel like dizzy "You are beautiful today… so beautiful you take my breath away."

"Oh, you just say because I'm wearing this little thing…." She maliciously answer him, whispering the words on his lips few seconds before capturing his mouth in a sweet kiss, the last for now but not of the day, not at all. She can't have enough of him, never ever, and she isn't planning of having enough of Patrick Jane for quite a long time. His answer is a look that it's quite similar to her one, but not just malicious. Patrick is looking at her like a predator, he is studying her; better yet, he is studying the long, sleeveless red dress in silk, Swarovski crystals and lace she choose for the occasion and the emeralds he brought her for Christmas and that she is wearing today for the first time, more classy that the ones he brought her with his win at the casino a long time before (even if they are still in their safe, at home, and she doesn't plan of getting rid of them. They go along perfectly with moonlight, candles, incense and satin covers quite well, after all.) His look says it all, and she laughs in his shoulder, trying to resist and to control herself, unable to. Sometimes, reading that man is just too easy. "Oh, c'mon Patrick, stop looking at me thinking about what's the better way to let this dress end up on the pavement without ruining it completely!"

"Meh, I wasn't thinking about that" he whisper, husky, in her ear, biting playfully her lobe signaling what his idea of the after is, letting her foretasting what's to come, something she can't wait for as well. "I was wondering if you had something against wearing just that necklace and those earrings for a couple of weeks… it's to a private and very isolated beach at the Hawaii we are going to stay, after all."

Redder and redder in face, Teresa parts enough from the man to hit him, but, still, she doesn't release him. One of her hands is still on him, holding Patrick for a shoulder while they still move on time with the rhythm. "You are a perverted, Jane" he laughs at the mention of his surname. It's something she does only when she is upset, mad or embarrassed- by and for him.

"Ouch, woman, you wound me! I'm not a pervert, because, as I recall, we clearly stated a couple of year ago, during our stay in Chicago, that the one with the perverted mind were _you, _while I've always been merely a sacrificial lamb. Maybe I should say sacrificial virgin, though, considering the matter at hand!" she hits him again, but this time laughing, and then allows her head to rest on his shoulder, like that time they danced together, the very first time they danced together, and like that time he holds her as strongly as possible. Differently from that time, though, he whispers sweet nothing into her ear before tenderly kissing her perfectly styled dark hair and caressing with his ringed left hand the tender skin of her (still flat) abdomen covered by the thin and bright and shining red fabric that embraces her. "And, my beautiful Senior Agent, I'd never change you for anything in the world. Trust me on this, Mrs. Jane."

But 8 months, 3 weeks and 2 days later he is proven wrong yet again. Patrick Jane knows he'll never be as happy as they day he has in his arms his sleepy but glowing wife, Teresa Lisbon-Jane, and a wonderful, perfect and completely healthy curly blonde, green eyed honeymoon baby they somehow managed to create together against all odds (age and birth control nevertheless), Michael Daniel Jane.

END


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